"I Cast My Anchor on Calvary...For I Know in Whom I Have Believed"

"There was an evil hour when once I shipped the anchor of my faith; I cut the cable of my belief; I no longer moored myself hard by the coasts of Revelation; I allowed my vessel to drift before the wind; I said to reason, 'Be thou my captain;' I said to my own brain, 'Be thou my rudder;' and I started on my mad voyage.

Thank God, it is all over now; but I will tell you its brief history. It was one hurried sailing over the tempestuous ocean of free thought. I went on, and as I went the skies began to darken; but to make up for that deficiency, the waters were brilliant with coruscations of brilliancy. I saw sparks flying upward that pleased me, and I thought, 'If this be free thought, it is a happy thing.'

My thoughts seemed gems, and I scattered stars with both my hands; but anon, instead this coruscations of glory, I saw grim fiends, fierce and horrible, start up from the waters, and as I dashed on, they gnashed their teeth, and grinned upon me; they seized the prow of my ship and dragged me on, while I, in part, gloried at the rapidity of my motion, but yet shuddered at the terrific rate with which I passed the old landmarks of my faith.

As I hurried forward, with an awful speed, I began to doubt my very existence; I doubted if there were a world, I doubted if there was such a thing as myself. I went to the very verge of the dreary realms of unbelief. I went to the very bottom of the sea of infidelity, I doubted everything. But here the devil foiled himself: for the very extravagance of the doubt, proved its absurdity. Just when I saw the bottom of that sea, there came a voice which said, And can this doubt be true?' At this very thought I awoke. I started from that death-dream, which, God knows might have damned my soul, and ruined this, my body, if I had not awoke. 

When I arose, faith took the helm; from that moment I doubted not. Faith streered me back; faith cried, 'away, away!' I cast my anchor on Calvary; I lifted my eye to God: and here I am, 'alive, and out of hell.' Therefore, I speak what I do know. I have sailed that perilous voyage; I have come safe to land. Ask me again to be an infidel! No, I have tried it; it was sweet at first, but bitter afterwards, Now, lashed to God's gospel more firmly than ever, standing as on a rock of adamant, I defy the arguments of hell to move me; for I know in whom I have believed..."

-Charles Spurgeon, Sermons, Vol. 1. "The Bible," p. 28-29

"You No Longer Have to Spend the Rest of Your Life Chasing Your Tail"

Elect Exiles

We are aliens to this world. Our unsatisfied yearnings, festering idols, and distraught anxieties embody our alienation. Spiritual depression, and more broadly, sadness due to practical, functional unbelief result. What is the reason for our downcast souls? Where is our hope?

C.S. Lewis famously encapsulated this emptiness through this quote

"Most people, if they have really learned to look into their own hearts, would know that they do want, and want acutely, something that cannot be had in this world. There are all sorts of things in this world that offer to give it to you, but they never quite keep their promise. The longings which arise in us when we first fall in love, or first think of some foreign country, or first take up some subject that excites us, are longings which no marriage, no travel, no learning, can really satisfy. I am not now speaking of what would be ordinarily called unsuccessful marriages, or holidays, or learned careers. I am speaking of the best possible ones. There was something we have grasped at, in that first moment of longing, which just fades away in the reality. I think everyone knows what i mean. The wife may be a good wife, and the hotels and scenery may have been excellent, and chemistry may be a very interesting job: but something has evaded us."

Just as our basic hunger points to the existence of food, so does this spiritual vacancy point to an eternally satisfying occupant.

Our answer is found in 1 Peter. Immediately addressed to the "elect exiles," Peter wastes no time in comprehensively addressing our exile. A few things:

1. Our exile is rooted in and guided by the Holy Trinity - 1:1-2 "To those who are elect exiles, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for the obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood."
2. A continual return to the cross - 1:3-4  "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time."
3. Sovereign, glorious grace - It is by His sovereignty that we are met with spiritual depression, and for the sake of His glory, the process is sufficiently founded by endless, abundant grace resulting from Christ crucified. 1:13  "set your hope full on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ."

Therefore in the midst of trial, depression, idolatry, unbelief, hopelessness, etc, We have something far greater operating outside our ridiculous hearts and minds, continually redeeming our wayward tendencies. We have an endless reservoir of grace--living hope. Our hope, the eternal satisfaction that our souls truly long for, is provided through the glory and grace of Jesus.



          

Why are You Cast Down, O My Soul?

Psalm 42

Three times the author mentions the "cast down" condition of his soul--spiritual depression. In the midst of a season of spiritual dryness where is our hope found?

Certainly we flee to mere oases, not the true living water. It takes a season of spiritual drought to examine and refocus our hope to verse 5:

"My soul is cast down within me; THEREFORE I remember you."

This is not just remembering God--It is continually returning to the cross, where Jesus' soul was ultimately downcast so our souls would be forever joyous in eternity. Jesus subjected himself to the great thirst, to infinite tears--He was the one truly mocked as he hung on the cross, "Where is your God?" Jesus was forgotten, subject to unbearable mourning, turmoil, and oppression, So that our souls may be remembered. That our thirst may be forever quenched by the grace and peace of our true Father. That we may forever rejoice in the steadfast love of the Lord in the midst of our spiritual depression. Jesus was downcast so our souls may be uplifted. 

Verse 11 "Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God."