KEEPING HOLD OF GOSPEL CONFIDENCE

Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on July 3, 2022 under 2022 |

Bethany Bible Church Sermon Message; July 3, 2022 from Hebrews 10:35-39

Theme: We must keep hold of our confidence before God through the cross, because Jesus is coming soon.

(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).

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This morning’s passage teaches us about a very precious element of the fruitful Christian life. But it’s something that, unless we’re careful, we can lose. And we wouldn’t lose it because someone took it away from us. Instead, we would have lost it because we had chosen to cast it aside.

That precious quality is ‘confidence’ … confidence in our full acceptance as 100% righteous in the sight of God through faith in the cross of Jesus Christ. And we must strive to keep hold of that confidence to the very end.

The passage that tells us about this precious element—this ‘gospel confidence’—is found in the 10th chapter of the Book of Hebrews.

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Now; we can’t say for sure just who the writer of the Book of Hebrews was. Some, for a number of reasons, believe that it was the apostle Paul. And I tend to agree. But whoever it was, the writer of this book was clearly under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. And God has chosen to preserve the words of this book in His Bible for our instruction and edification.

It was written to encourage some Jewish Christians who were suffering persecution for their faith in Jesus. Because of the intense persecution they were under, they were tempted to abandon their faith in Jesus. They were beginning to wonder if life might go a whole lot easier for them if they simply cast off their confidence in the cross; and returned to their old ways of trying to earn God’s righteousness through religious rituals and ceremonies. And the writer of Hebrews wrote to warn them that there really wasn’t anywhere else to go but forward with Jesus Christ. His sacrifice on the cross was the fulfillment of all the things that those Jewish ceremonies and rituals were pointing to; and there wasn’t any other way to be righteous before God but by faith in Him.

But those Jewish believers could rest assured that the cross of Jesus was more than sufficient to make them righteous in God’s sight. Look at what the writer of Hebrews says in Hebrews 10:19-25. Please listen carefully to what it tells us about the confidence we can have in Christ. It speaks of the ‘Holiest’—which was another name for the most sacred place in the Old Testament Jewish temple. It was the inner-place in the temple into which, during the old covenant era, only the high priest could enter once a year on the Day of Atonement. It was the place that was closed off to all the rest of sinful humanity by the large veil that hung before it. The writer of Hebrews says;

Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching (Hebrews 10:19-25).

It begins by saying “Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter …”; and the word that’s translated as “boldness” is the same word that can be translated as “confidence”. If we hold on to our confession of faith in the cross of Jesus, then we can have “boldness”—that is, complete and 100% confidence—to enter into the deepest possible place of intimacy with God. Even though we are unworthy in and of ourselves—even though we have sinned grievously against God—the blood of Jesus has washed us completely clean and has made us fully acceptable in His sight. We are now welcomed to come in and draw close … if we keep hold of that confession of faith.

May I speak personally for a moment? The reality of that confidence has been the greatest blessing in my life. I was a sinner. I lived many of the early years of my life afraid of God because of my sin. I felt dirty and filthy before Him in the deepest part of my being; and I hid from Him in shame. I pretended that He didn’t exist. I wouldn’t have dared to approach Him—let alone think that I could have fellowship with Him. But when I finally learned about the love that He has shown toward me in sending His Son Jesus to die on the cross for my sin, and that I could enter into a relationship with Him through faith in the cross of Jesus, I believed. I confessed my sin to God, thanked Him that Jesus died for me, and I came to Him. The moment that I prayed to place my trust in Jesus, I felt every bit of that dirtiness and filthiness in my soul disappear. For the first time in my life, I felt completely loved by God my Father and felt fully welcomed to come and have fellowship with Him. That was almost 50 years ago; and in all of that time, a joyful sense of welcome and love from the Father has never left me. There have been many times that I stumbled in sin; but I confessed it and came back to God—not in order to become ‘re-accepted’, but because I was already accepted. That sense of acceptance has only grown stronger and more real to me. I love the confidence that I have in the cross!

Now; it’s a dangerous thing to abandon that confidence. If we ever cast away our confidence in Christ—from out of a love for sin, or from out of the fear of what other people might think about us or might do to us—there’s no other place for us to go. And that’s because there’s no other way to be welcomed into a relationship with God than through faith in Jesus. As the writer of Hebrews goes on to tell us;

For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. And again, “The Lord will judge His people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God (vv. 26-34).

The Bible teaches us that the same Jesus who died on the cross for us was also raised from the dead. He ascended again to the Father. And one day, He will return as King of kings and Lord of lords to bring judgment upon the earth. It would be a dreadful thing to be found by Him on that day having heard the truth about Him and the confidence we can have in Him … and to even have placed a kind of half-hearted, partially-committed ‘faith’ in Him … but to then have later cast that confidence aside from out of a love for sin or from out of a fear of other people.

That was something that the Jewish Christians—to whom this letter was addressed—were in danger of doing. And so, the writer encouraged them to go back in their memories and think back to how it was when they first trusted Jesus. He asked them to recall how willing they once were to suffer any loss, or to endure any trial, because of their faith in Jesus. He said;

But recall the former days in which, after you were illuminated, you endured a great struggle with sufferings: partly while you were made a spectacle both by reproaches and tribulations, and partly while you became companions of those who were so treated; for you had compassion on me in my chains, and joyfully accepted the plundering of your goods, knowing that you have a better and an enduring possession for yourselves in heaven (vv. 32-34).

These Christians gladly suffered for their faith. They even gladly stood with—and suffered along with—the writer of this letter when he was cast into prison for the cause of Jesus. It’s because they had confidence that they had been made 100% accepted in the sight of God through faith in Jesus. Their sins had been washed away. They had entered into joyful fellowship with God the Father through faith in Jesus the Son. And back then, nothing else mattered to them than their confidence in Christ—even though they suffered for their faith.

Once again, let me speak personally. That was—to some degree—my experience too. When I first placed my faith in Jesus, I suffered the loss of many of my friends. In fact, in some instances, they were extraordinarily cruel to me; and even caused me to suffer physically as well as relationally. I even suffered some strains within my own family. It was a horrible time of trial in my life; and there were many nights when I felt so sad and alone that I cried myself to sleep. But God had His hand on me, and I learned about the endurance of faith in it all. I was willing to suffer these things because I knew—with absolute certainty—that Jesus Christ had completely changed my life. It’s hard for me to express enough how important that ‘confidence’ is in Christ—that ‘boldness’ by which, through Him, we can freely enter into fellowship with God. Without it, we just can’t live the Christian life. But with it, we are sustained and made to stand strong.

And so; that’s when we come to this very important appeal from the writer of Hebrews. We find it in verses 35-39. He tells these suffering Christians;

Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise:

“For yet a little while,
And He who is coming will come and will not tarry.
Now the just shall live by faith;
But if anyone draws back,
My soul has no pleasure in him.”

But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul (vv. 10:35-39).

And that’s what I pass on to you today, dear brothers and sisters in Christ. We’re living in a time when the pressure is very great to cast our confidence aside. Sadly, in our day, many have. Many who had once professed a faith in Jesus have now apostatized from that faith—and have even gone so far as to publicly deny Him from out of a love for sin, or from out of a desire for personal safety and peace, or from out of the pressure to fit in with the sinful values and beliefs of this world, or even from seemingly-unanswered questions and doubts. But don’t let that happen to you! Jesus is returning soon; and it will be worth anything we might have to suffer today if—on that day—He finds us still faithful to Him and still trusting in Him.

As this passage teaches us, we must keep hold of that confidence before God through the cross … because Jesus, our Redeemer, and righteous Judge, is coming soon.

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Now; let’s look at these words in a little more detail. In verse 35, we’re told, “Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward.” And this tells us …

1. WHAT IT IS THAT WE MUST KEEP.

We must hold on to our confidence. That the word “confidence” (or “boldness”) is a major theme in the Book of Hebrews. It’s found four times in this letter. We’re told in Hebrews 3:6 that—as believers united together—we are the ‘house’ or ‘temple’ of the Lord Jesus Christ;”if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end.” In 4:16, we’re told to come “boldly” or “confidently” to the throne of grace—to the very throne of God the Father—“that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” And as we’ve already seen, Hebrews 10:19 tells us that we have “boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus …” And now, we find that same word here in verse 35.

So; this ‘gospel confidence’ is a very precious thing. But as this morning’s passage tells us, we’ve got to beware. We are in danger of losing that confidence—not because anyone can ever take it away from us, but because we ourselves can be pressured into casting it away. And we must make the commitment never to do that; because, as verse 35 reminds us, that confidence “has great reward”. That confidence not only encourages us to enter freely into the very presence of God, but it also encourages us to look ahead to the time when the Lord Jesus’ will return. And nothing else in this world will be as important as to be found faithful to Him when He comes.

Would you like to see a picture of what this boldness and confidence looks like in action? We find such a picture in Acts 4. The apostles Peter and John had been preaching about salvation in Jesus to their fellow Jewish kinsmen. The Lord Jesus had even healed a lame man through them. Thousands of people believed on Jesus as a result of this miracle, and because of the sermon that came after it. And when the leaders of the Jewish people heard about how the people were believing on Jesus, they arrested the apostles. They wanted to know by whose name and under whose power they had healed the lame man.

And Peter—under the power of the Holy Spirit—answered and said;

“Rulers of the people and elders of Israel: If we this day are judged for a good deed done to a helpless man, by what means he has been made well, let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole. This is the ‘stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.’ Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:8-12).

What conviction! What boldness! What confidence in the power of the cross! When the rulers heard this, they realized that these men had been in fellowship with Jesus. He had changed their lives. And when they tried to command them not to preach about Jesus anymore, Peter responded—respectfully, but boldly—and said;

“Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard” (vv. 19-20).

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ; the world desperately needs for us to show forth that kind of confidence in the cross of Jesus Christ today. We must not cast that confidence away.

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So then; look next at what verse 36 tells us. It says; “For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise …” So, with respect to our confidence in the cross of Jesus—a confidence that we must never cast away—this tells us …

2. WHAT WE NEED IN ORDER TO KEEP IT.

First, we need endurance. This speaks of a patient trust in God that bears up under conflict or trial; a patient trust that perseveres with eyes fixed solidly on the unchanging promises of God’s word; a patience that knows that we absolutely will—without fail—receive the fulfillment of those promises in God’s perfect time. The Lord Jesus once taught His disciples about the hard times that would come; and told them,

“By your patience possess your souls” (Luke 21:19).

And do you know how we put that kind of patient endurance to work in our lives? Verse 36 tells us that as well. We, secondly, need to be doing the will of God. It’s by obeying His commandments and instructions—as they are found in the Bible—that our patient endurance is put into action. The commandments and instructions of God’s word are often in complete opposition to the values and priorities of this world. But when we refuse to compromise with sin—when we keep on doing the will of God as He instructs us; when we refuse to let the threats stop us, but keep looking instead to His promises—then we’re putting endurance into practice.

Do you want to preserve your confidence in the cross of Jesus? Then you need endurance. And do you know how to put endurance to practice? It’s by obeying Him, doing His will, and faithfully keeping the commandments of His word—no matter what.

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Now; the writer of Hebrews wasn’t simply making up his own pep talk. He was looking to the Old Testament Scriptures. He quoted from a loose translation of Habakkuk 2:3; and said,

“For yet a little while,
And He who is coming will come and will not tarry” (v. 37).

The One “who is coming” is none other than the Lord Jesus Himself. As the disciples were watching Him ascend to the Father after His resurrection, two angelic beings appeared to them and told them,

“This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11).

And this tells yet another thing about this precious confidence in the cross; and that’s …

3. WHAT MOTIVATES US TO KEEP IT.

The promise of the Bible is that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will return to this world in power and great glory. And when He returns, we will be glorified with Him. On that glorious day, our confidence in the cross of Jesus will have been proven infinitely well-placed! And do you notice what the writer says about it? It is “yet a little while”. In the original language, it’s a very unusual phrase. It uses a repetition of a word; and one translator has put it this way: “For yet ‘a little while’, how short! how short!”

The time of our waiting for the Lord’s return doesn’t seem very short to us; does it? We’ve been waiting for two-thousand years. And even in the life-span of any single Christian in history; the time of suffering persecution or trial for Jesus’ sake seems like a long and painful period. But what the writer of Hebrews is telling us is that—from the standpoint of eternity—that time of persecution or suffering, and even the two-thousand years of waiting, is only “yet a little while”. In the heavenly glories of eternity, we’ll marvel at how short a time of suffering it really was!

Do you feel like you’re suffering for Jesus? It helps your confidence to remember that our suffering is only for a brief period of time when compared to the glorious blessings that await us through faith in Him. It is, as it says in 2 Corinthians 4:17, a “light affliction, which is but for a moment” which is “working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory”. So; don’t cast your confidence in eternal glory through Christ away because of a short period of suffering in the present!

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Now; the writer of Hebrews goes on in verse 38 to again quote from the Old Testament and say;

“Now the just shall live by faith;
But if anyone draws back,
My soul has no pleasure in him” (v. 38).

This reminds us of yet another thing we need to remember about our confidence in Christ; and that is …

4. WHAT THE RESULTS ARE FOR KEEPING IT.

These words come from another loose translation of Habakkuk 2:4. They’re the words that God spoke to the people of Israel during a time of trouble in the Old Testament era. And look at them closely. The words at the beginning of this quote constitute the great theme of the gospel—that “the just shall live by faith”. All who are declared righteous in the sight of God are declared righteous—as a free gift of God’s grace—because of their faith in Jesus Christ. But the words at the end of that quote remind us of God’s displeasure at those who begin in faith, but then draw back. It’s a reminder that even the best ‘beginnings’ in the Christian life will not please God if there isn’t endurance all the way to the end. To ‘draw back’ would be the same as ‘casting away our confidence’ in the cross of Jesus. It would be the same idea as ‘apostatizing’ from the faith. It would not be a case of someone ‘losing their salvation’. Rather, it would be evidence that such a person had never completely trusted Jesus in the first place.

If we drew back from the cross—whether because of a love for sin, or because of a fear of people, or because of a desire to fit in with this world—we would experience the displeasure of God. In fact, it’s put very strongly; saying that He would have “no pleasure” in such a person. But to stay true to our confidence in the cross of Jesus—to keep enduring in our faith in Him—would be proof of ‘justification’. It will show that we had been living the life of ‘the justified’ all along.

I want to hear that official declaration on that day; don’t you? If we truly want that, then we must keep our confidence in the cross of Jesus now—and never cast it away or draw back!

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And dear brothers and sisters in Christ; I love how the writer of Hebrews closes off this appeal to us. It tells us one more thing about this wonderful confidence; and that is …

5. WHAT WE ARE WITH REGARD TO IT.

The writer of Hebrews includes himself with his readers and says;

But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul (v. 39).

What an encouraging way to close off this appeal. Oh, that it would prove to be absolutely true of you and me all the way to the day that Jesus returns!

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Now; this appeal from the writer of Hebrews isn’t the only one we find in Scripture. There’s another one very much like it in 1 John 2:24-25. The apostle John wrote;

Therefore let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise that He has promised us—eternal life (1 John 2:24-25).

To let ‘that abide’ in us ‘which we heard from the beginning’ is the same thing as keeping a solid hold on our confidence in the cross of Jesus Christ. Let’s recommit ourselves to that confidence—even in the midst of a world that is putting the pressure on us to cast it away.

The day of the Lord’s return is soon. It is ‘yet a little while’. And when He finally comes, we will be eternally grateful that we kept hold of that ‘gospel confidence’!

AE