Will Your Anchor Hold?
1 John 2:18-19

INTRO: Good morning church. I’m going to start today with some excerpts from something that I read on-line.

I don’t know if any of you are familiar with the waters of Prince William Sound in Alaska but it has very beautiful scenery. The mountains are high, the water is lovely and there are miles and miles of coastline with many inlets and channels. There is excellent sailing also… most of the time.

A couple was taking a multi-day sailboat excursion in their 35 footer. Hearing there was a big storm coming, they anchored in Bear Cove, known as a very secure anchorage on Knight Island, and set two good anchors. That night there were violent winds and sheeting rain. They scrambled outside, took down the anchor light that had blown out, and checked the anchor lines. Everything seemed secure. The depth sounder reported the same depth they anchored at, and they watched the GPS to make sure they were not dragging anchor.

In that part of the world the wind picks up speed across the open water. When it reaches the mountains a venturi effect kicks in and the wind picks up more speed as it goes up, and over smashing down on the other side. The wind gusts were hitting the little boat at over 60 mph. By 2:00 am it was impossible to sleep. All through the night and into the next afternoon the wind wailed.

Their GPS had a moving map and showed a trail of where they were being blown. By the time the wind subsided that trail on the GPS looked like a tightly wound ball of yarn. They must have spun around hundreds of times. Yet despite the terror of the night it was a very secure anchorage. The holding ground, the place where the anchors connected to the sea floor, was excellent. The anchors were invisible of course and they could only feel the violence of the wind on the surface. They were completely dependent on those anchors. If they had dragged, the boat would have blown onto the rocks and there was nothing that could have been done to stop it. Their anchors held.

I. How is your anchor holding this morning? Our text is 1 John 2:18-19 – “18. Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour. 19. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.”

A. We’re not going to look at the antichrists today, but I want to focus on 1 John 2:19. From this verse we see it is plain that the "antichrists" were Christians who had defected from the truth. There are people who say that those who John said, ‘went out’ were supposedly never converted. However, this verse states quite clearly that at the time of their departure they were ‘from us’ but not ‘of us’. In other words, they weren’t faithful Christians when they left.

1. The idea of ‘once saved always saved’ is a false doctrine to the core. The word apostasy is not found in all translations, but it is found in the American Standard and some others, it means to backslide, withdraw, or what we would call fall away. The New Testament is filled with warnings about the possibility of falling away from the Lord.
2. John warns a few verses back at verse 15 (1 John 2:15) “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” That world reliance can lead to us falling away.

B. Falling away is a real possibility for all of us. In 1 Timothy 1:19-20 “having faith and a good conscience, which some having rejected, concerning the faith have suffered shipwreck, of whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander…” We find that Hymenaeus and Alexander rejected the “faith” and Paul says that they have suffered a shipwreck of their faith because of that rejection.

1. In 2 Timothy 2:16-18 – Paul writes “But shun profane and vain babblings, for they will increase to more ungodliness. And their message will spread like cancer. Hymenaeus and Philetus are of this sort, who have strayed concerning the truth, saying that the resurrection is already past; and they overthrow the faith of some.”
2. And then in 2 Timothy 4:10 Paul says that “for Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world…”

II. One of the ways to help us remain faithful is to understand why some Christians ‘go out’ from among us. That’s what I want to spend the rest of the time looking at this morning.

A. Let us consider the question, “Will your anchor hold?” Drifting away is always a possibility and at times we may not even notice when we start slowly drifting from the Lord and His church. I want to suggest that it is wise for each of us to gage just exactly where we are at, with our faith.
B. I strongly suspect that many of you have seen faithful brothers and sisters in Christ over the years simply disappear into the sunset. Some are still faithful to the Lord but have moved elsewhere and some have simply drifted away. They drift away for several reasons, yet the main reason I believe is that they have allowed their anchor rope to go slack.

1. You see folks; the anchor rope must become “slack” before the anchor can be released. If the vessel maintains the “pull” on the anchor, if it is properly seated in a good anchorage, the anchor will not release.
2. Apply this spiritually and we should see that we (the vessel) must maintain the proper tightness on the anchor, which keeps us properly “moored” or connected to God.
3. When we become “slack” or fail to do as we should, we allow our anchor to drag losing its grip. When that happens, we drift just as a vessel on the water does. This could be devastating… and from a spiritual standpoint it is eternally disastrous.

C. Jesus is sharing the parable of the sower in Luke 8:5-8 where He says, – “5. "A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell by the wayside; and it was trampled down, and the birds of the air devoured it. 6. "Some fell on rock; and as soon as it sprang up, it withered away because it lacked moisture. 7. "And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up with it and choked it. 8. "But others fell on good ground, sprang up, and yielded a crop a hundredfold.'' When He had said these things He cried, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear!''”
D. Later He was asked for an explanation of this parable by His disciples.

1. In explaining about the seed that fell among the rocks, Jesus says in Luke 8:13 “But the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away.” Some versions use the word “temptation” and some the word “testing.” But really that’s what the word “Temptation” means; it means “a testing” or “trial.”
2. In the film “Shawshank Redemption”, which is about a prisoner called Andy who was convicted of crime he did not commit, we find Andy struggling to come to terms with life in prison. A friend says to him, “life in prison does strange things to a man, first you hate it, and then you get used to it until finally you learn to depend on it.”
3. That is one way sin works in your life. Maybe when you first became a Christian, you hated yourself for getting drunk on an occasion. After a few times of getting drunk, you get used to it and after a while you’re looking forward to it.
4. Maybe you hated yourself for gossiping about another member of the Lord’s church because you knew it was wrong. After a while you get used to people knowing you as the church gossip and you kind of like it.
5. Maybe you used to come to every service, and every Bible study. Every time there was something happening at the building you would be here. Then you started to miss a few of these days, and you hated it at first, but now you’re in the habit and whatever it is your doing in it’s place is just too important to you.

E. That’s how sin works, sin grows and if you don’t put a stop to it, it will end up killing you. That is what James is saying in James 1:12-16 – “12. Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been proved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. 13. Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am tempted by God''; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. 14. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. 15. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. 16. Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.”

1. James says that when you get involved with sin, it’s only going to lead to one thing and that’s spiritual death. We should not be fooled, this testing that James and Jesus talk about can come to us in different forms.
2. Peter warns us about one of them in 1 Peter 4:3-4 – “For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do—living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry. They are surprised that you do not join them in their reckless, wild living, and they heap abuse on you.” [para]
3. Peter is talking about the problem of our old friends coming along and testing us. We’ve all got history and we’ve all probably been involved in some ungodly activities at some point in our lives, but when we became a Christian that ungodly behavior ceased. Peter is saying, “When you meet up with those old friends, they are going to expect you to be like them, like you were before. Even though they know you’re a Christian.” They will tempt you to go back to the way you were. We need to be on our guard against that.
4. Do your non-Christians friends have more influence in your life than Jesus Christ does? Because if they do, you could be one step closer to going out from among us.

F. Another reason as to why some people go out from among us is because they pull up their anchor instead of remaining in a good anchorage.

1. Jesus in that parable” says that “some seed fell among the thorns.” He says in Luke 8:14 – “The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature.” [para] I suspect that these are probably the most frequent ways of drifting, worry, riches and pleasures!
2. Christians get so tied up in this world and they get so involved in their jobs, their professions, that their love for God becomes 2nd place in their lives.
3. Christians start worrying about having enough money for this and that. They start to work longer hours, and before they know what is going on they haven’t been to church on the Lord’s Day for months.
4. I understand that some Christians need to work on the Lord’s Day to keep their employment, but if that job means that you’re missing out in worshiping God for months on end, then you need to be careful that you’re not on the slippery slope to falling away.

G. There’s a big difference between working to live and living to work. Jesus warns in Luke 12:15-21 – “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.'' 16. Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: "The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. 17. "And he thought within himself, saying, `What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?' 18. "So he said, `I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. 19. `And I will say to my soul, "Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.'' ' 20. "But God said to him, `You fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?' 21. "So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.''” [NKJV]

1. When blessings had been multiplied upon this man, they only served to increase his covetousness. This man failed to recognize his status, not as the true owner of his goods, nor even of his soul, which were "his" only in the sense of his being temporarily a steward of them.
2. The loan of an immortal spirit from God was about to be recalled, and the stewardship of his worldly possessions would pass, that very night, to others.

H. In Matthew 6:33 Jesus tells us “… seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” Seeking after the things of this world has caused people to fall; money has caused people to grieve.

1. 1 Timothy 6:10 – “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” It is not money but the love of money, the placing of money at such a priority in your life that God comes second, which causes failure.
2. It was the love of money that caused Judas to betray Jesus according to Matthew 26:14-16. Money caused Ananias and Sapphira’s death because they lied to God according to Acts 5. Again, Jesus reminds us in Matthew 6:33 - “… seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you”
3. Ananias and Sapphira “agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord”. Some people fool themselves into thinking they are doing it all in Jesus’ name for God’s glory. Paraphrasing Hebrews 10:25 – “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”
4. If you’re spending less time with God and His people and spending more time in perusing sports and pleasures, or making money then your anchor line may be going slack for want of watching and your anchor starting to drag allowing you to drift.

III. Then there is the case of more attractive anchorage. Some people drift because they set their anchor in the anchorage of false doctrine. John warned these early Christians in 1 John 4:1 he says, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.”

A. John echoes Jesus’ warning to His disciples in Matthew 7:15 where He says, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.” The apostle Paul described them as being deceivers and says “… we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness by which they lie in wait to deceive,” Ephesians 4:14
B. We need to understand that the Bible wouldn’t warn us about these things if they weren’t a reality. People still teach false doctrine today. The religious world has a thousand ways to be saved. The religious world has a thousand gods. The religious world has a thousand gospels.

1. It is no wonder people are confused, no wonder Christians who don’t acquaint themselves with God’s word drift away. People would rather trust people than trust God’s word.
2. Some people would rather rely on visions of angels than God’s word. Some Christians would rather trust other Christians than trusting God’s word.
3. And some Christians rely more on the preacher’s word than the word He’s preaching from. If you find that you have become like that, then you need to make sure that you’re not starting to drag your anchor.

C. The church in Galatia was dealing with the same problem that many Christians face today in the world, false teaching. Paul said to the church in Galatians 1:6-9 “6. I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, 7. which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. 9. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.” [NKJV]

1. How many souls have you witnessed baptized into Christ only to find out a few months later they have joined a denominational church? How many souls have you witnessed starting off on fire for the Lord only to be led astray by someone who says, “come to our church it’s livelier”. Our worship services sometimes include movies, or sometimes we have ‘entertainment groups’ visit. We have more events, festivals, and date nights.
2. It’s astonishing how people can leave the grace of Christ and turn to a different gospel which really is no gospel at all. Those who teach false doctrine have a penalty to pay… but so do those who fall away. Hebrews 6:4-6 – “4. For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, 5. and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6. if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.”
3. The Hebrew writer was writing to Hebrew Christians who were saved. He says that they have tasted the heavenly gift, received the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of God’s word. They saw and heard about the miraculous events, but because Christianity wasn’t their idea of what Christianity should be they wanted to go back to Judaism. What the Hebrew writer is saying is that if they went back to Judaism, they would be rejecting their salvation. When you reject your salvation, you’re rejecting that Jesus was the Christ, you have rejected the gospel.
4. The writer says it’s impossible to come back to repentance because you’ve rejected the need for repentance. People can become Christians, and then months or even years later fall away and not return, not because they can’t but because they won’t. Those who “go out” or turn their back upon the faith are in the grips of spiritual death.

D. 1 John 1:6-9 – “6. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. 8. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

1. I find this is truly good news. Those Christians who fall away can return if they so desire. James 5:19-20 – “Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.”
2. There is something else we face that can lead us to drift away and that is discouragement. Many things can lead us into being discouraged but with our aging membership and the realities of the pandemic it seems more noticeable. We need the encouragement of our brothers and sisters to combat this and indeed encouragement is, by design, God’s preventative medicine to protect our hearts. Each time one of our brothers and sisters can no longer be with us, we feel a keen sense of loss. They have brightened our lives so much, and now we miss them.

CONCLUSION:
I don’t know how your anchor is holding this morning, but God knows. We are all capable of drifting from grace and suffering the shipwreck of our faith. There is only one thing more tragic than drifting away from the Lord and that is dying in that condition. It is only as faithful Christians that we have the hope of eternal salvation.

Hebrews 6:19 tells us that, “This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil… ” Jesus and His Word are the holding ground, the firm anchorage in the analogy at the start of this sermon, and hope is the anchor. What then is the anchor line? I’d say it is our faith.

The couple in that sailboat talked about checking the lines and how the anchor light had blown out. Keeping an eye on the anchor lines and making sure you do not drift is so important that larger vessels have an “anchor watch”, where there is always someone assigned to this duty. Should our faith become weak, if we despair and allow strands of the line to fray, we will not be lost if we watch and repent and pray for forgiveness. Our job is to hold fast to the Lord, no matter what.

I hope that your anchor is steadfast and sure even though the billows are rolling. I hope and pray that your hope is anchored fast to the rock of Jesus Christ, grounded firm and deep in our Savior’s love.

Will your anchor hold? Are you watching the line? Mark 14:38 – “Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak.” If you think you’ve been drifting away from the Lord in some way, then please pray to God about it, repenting, and asking forgiveness “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9.

If you’re not a Christian this morning, then you haven’t tasted the goodness of a Christian life yet. If you’ve heard many different gospels in your lifetime then please don’t leave here today without speaking to someone about the true gospel, the full gospel, not some watered down gospel. The gospel which Paul calls in Ephesians 1:13 – “... the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation…”
Don’t let your faith become slack and let your anchor drift. The result of doing so is becoming separated from the Lord. If you are not anchored in Christ, obey the gospel today and then remain connected to the Lord. Seek the strength and stability in His Word so you can always be faithful.

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Reference Sermon by: Mike Glover