Confidence

English Standard Version Chapter 10

19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, 20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

26 For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. 28 Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. 29 How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” 31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

32 But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, 33 sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. 34 For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one. 35 Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. 36 For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. 37 For,

“Yet a little while,

and the coming one will come and will not delay;

38  but my righteous one shall live by faith,

and if he shrinks back,

my soul has no pleasure in him.”

39 But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.

Introduction

What we learn throughout the book of Hebrews is the importance of having faith. The writer goes into great detail about how things have changed since the time of the Old Testament. The time of fulfillment has come. The time for the types and shadows to give way to the greater reality has come. This is what happened when Jesus came into the world. He was the true Moses, the true High Priest, the true sacrifice, the true veil. All of this is vital to understand for the Christian to endure the great changes taking place in history, as Jerusalem and the temple are destroyed by the Romans. This was to end the guardianship of the civil and ceremonial law, the sacrifice of animals, the earthly high priest, so that the sons and daughters of God could come into the true house and family of God. The work is done. The adoption has taken place. The papers are signed, as it were. Now the important part. You have to believe it. You have to live a new life in light of these realities. That’s what the writer wants us to see. And you do that by learning how you can believe it; how you can have faith in it; how you can trust these things to be true.

How do we live by faith?

Confidence fueled by objective truth

Confidence comes from objective truths. You cannot underestimate the significance of this. Unless these things are true, there is no basis for confidence in approaching God. These truths are the reason Christianity doesn’t fit the idea of religion. These truths are why early Christians were called “atheists.” They weren’t like the others. They didn’t belong. These truths show you that your relationship with God is not accomplished by you. It is wholly accomplished by God.

English Standard Version Chapter 10

19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, 20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.

First, you enter “by the blood of Jesus” rather than your own track record. It isn’t because you’ve done more good than bad that God allows you to enter his presence. It isn’t because you’re better than other people. It isn’t because you have a resume of good works to boast about. That is the essence of religion. It is all about deciphering what you must do in order to approach God. Christianity says you enter, not by what you’ve done, but by the blood of Jesus. That’s an objective reality that doesn’t depend on you. Jesus blood was shed without your consent. He died long before you were even born. That’s a done deal. Accomplished. As a result he has opened a new and living way to God. That’s what the phrase “through the curtain” means.

Second, we have a great priest over the house of God. We’ve been talking about this over the past few weeks. The high priest was the only person allowed to enter the throne room of God, at least the representative throne room, in the temple. He brought the sacrifices and prayers of the people before God. He bore the names of the people on his garments before God. But these OT priests were only placeholders, preparing the people to understand the true high priest, Jesus himself, who entered the real throne room of God, offering his own blood and “authorized fire” before the Lord, which is our prayers that come in his name. He sits at God’s right hand with the names of those with faith in Him.

As a result of these things, we can draw near with full assurance of faith because our hearts are sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. This is the basis of our acceptance before God and none of it has to do with our own track record.

This is important because we are unstable people. We feel good about ourselves one day and deplore ourselves the next. We can feel as though we have a right to approach God because we feel like we’ve lived a pretty good life at times and other times we are terribly aware of our failures and feel worthy of nothing. Our subjective experiences in life leave us with little confidence to approach God. This is why objective reality is so important.

What’s true of the child of God objectively?

David’s Psalms do such a great job of showing us how these doctrinal truths can help us. So many of his Psalms are written when he is in great duress. He writes when he’s running for his life in the wilderness from the king who wants him dead, when circumstances could easily be interpreted as God’s rejection of him for one reason or another. He writes when he’s racked with guilt and shame for his terrible sin. When you read these Psalms you see that David understood despair. He understood what it feels like when the weight of anxiety, the weight of guilt, the weight of despair presses so hard on your chest its hard to breath.

English Standard Version Psalm 69

1  Save me, O God!

For the waters have come up to my neck.

2  I sink in deep mire,

where there is no foothold;

I have come into deep waters,

and the flood sweeps over me.

3  I am weary with my crying out;

my throat is parched.

My eyes grow dim

with waiting for my God.

English Standard Version Psalm 69

1  Save me, O God!

For the waters have come up to my neck.

2  I sink in deep mire,

where there is no foothold;

I have come into deep waters,

and the flood sweeps over me.

3  I am weary with my crying out;

my throat is parched.

My eyes grow dim

with waiting for my God.

4  More in number than the hairs of my head

are those who hate me without cause;

mighty are those who would destroy me,

those who attack me with lies.

What I did not steal

must I now restore?

5  O God, you know my folly;

the wrongs I have done are not hidden from you.

and a little later in the Psalm,

English Standard Version Psalm 69

19  You know my reproach,

and my shame and my dishonor;

my foes are all known to you.

20  Reproaches have broken my heart,

so that I am in despair.

I looked for pity, but there was none,

and for comforters, but I found none.

21  They gave me poison for food,

and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink.

Here is his subjective experience. But he doesn’t allow these subjective experiences to take away his confidence before God. He continues by reflecting on objective truth.

English Standard Version Psalm 69

13  But as for me, my prayer is to you, O LORD.

At an acceptable time, O God,

in the abundance of your steadfast love answer me in your saving faithfulness.

14  Deliver me

from sinking in the mire;

let me be delivered from my enemies

and from the deep waters.

15  Let not the flood sweep over me,

or the deep swallow me up,

or the pit close its mouth over me.

16  Answer me, O LORD, for your steadfast love is good;

according to your abundant mercy, turn to me.

Here is his subjective experience. But he doesn’t allow these subjective experiences to take away his confidence before God. He continues by reflecting on objective truth.

David appeals not to his record or his goodness, but to the steadfast love and abundant mercy of God. Later he explains,

English Standard Version Psalm 69

33  For the LORD hears the needy

and does not despise his own people who are prisoners.

These are truths he hangs his hat on, that form the basis for his confidence in approaching God in his struggle. The great thing about today is that we live with a better understanding of this steadfast love and abundant mercy of God, for it is on full display in the work of Jesus.

We can see the same thing when David faces his guilt and shame.

English Standard Version Psalm 38

1  O LORD, rebuke me not in your anger,

nor discipline me in your wrath!

2  For your arrows have sunk into me,

and your hand has come down on me.

3  There is no soundness in my flesh

because of your indignation;

there is no health in my bones

because of my sin.

4  For my iniquities have gone over my head;

like a heavy burden, they are too heavy for me.

5  My wounds stink and fester

because of my foolishness,

6  I am utterly bowed down and prostrate;

all the day I go about mourning.

7  For my sides are filled with burning,

and there is no soundness in my flesh.

8  I am feeble and crushed;

I groan because of the tumult of my heart.

9  O Lord, all my longing is before you;

my sighing is not hidden from you.

10  My heart throbs; my strength fails me,

and the light of my eyes—it also has gone from me.

11  My friends and companions stand aloof from my plague,

and my nearest kin stand far off.

12  Those who seek my life lay their snares;

those who seek my hurt speak of ruin

and meditate treachery all day long.

13  But I am like a deaf man; I do not hear,

like a mute man who does not open his mouth.

14  I have become like a man who does not hear,

and in whose mouth are no rebukes.

15  But for you, O LORD, do I wait;

it is you, O Lord my God, who will answer.

To sum up,

English Standard Version Chapter 10

23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.

Confidence fueled by Community

There are times, however, that self-discipline isn’t enough to counter the voices of doubt and the feelings of despair. Your inclination is to feed your painful thoughts. It is bewildering why we do this but we do. We reinforce our despair with a rehearsing of our failures or a rehearsing of the desperate nature of our circumstances. It is one of the many reasons why it is so vital to live in community with other believers. This is what the church is all about.

English Standard Version Chapter 10

24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

It is in the community of God’s people, in the context of worship where we are reminded of the objective truth, and perhaps even more in the context of close friendship in which we can share our struggles and our troubles that we find encouragement. In these settings we are exhorted to consider, that is to contemplate and give thoughtful energy to how we might stir one another up to love and good deeds, that is, to live in a way the reflects our desire to know this great God of ours. These are times when we are to encourage, that is, to fill each other with courage to face the despair and difficulties we face.

Certainly that was the case for the people in the first century. They’d faced many hardships already because of their faith. They’d faced it from their friends and family who pressured them to return to the types and shadows of the Old Testament, that is, practicing their approach to God through circumcision, the ceremonial laws (purity and dietary), and the sacrificial system. They were also facing a new threat—from the Romans. The Romans targeted the Jewish people in the late 60s and 70s, among which the Christians were seen as a sect, and they were beginning to be targeted because of their Christian practices, which seemed a rejection of the Roman gods and ways. More than ever did they need to band together in the face of adversity.

By way of personal example, my wife has started going to the ladies’ Bible study on Thursday mornings. She has rarely been to it in the past. But this past 6-8 months have been particularly difficult for us and we’ve both found ourselves struggling with things, things that have left us feeling broken. Each time she has come home this past month from the Bible study she has had such a profound testimony about the way in which the study and the togetherness with the women has affected her soul. I know what it looks like to be stirred up to good deeds and encouraged in the Lord because I’ve seen it with my own eyes in my wife.

Confidence fueled by God’s fingerprints.

The writer continues in verse 32 to show us yet another way in which our confidence is built up, and that is to look at God’s fingerprints in your life. He invites them to consider their former days, the early days of their faith, when it was life or death business.

1 The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

English Standard Version Chapter 10

32 But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, 33 sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. 34 For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one. 35 Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.

God has been at work in their lives personally. They can look back and see his fingerprints all over the place. It is how they endured struggles with suffering, how they endured public reproach, how they partnered with those treated as outlaws, had compassion on those in prison and joyfully accepted the plundering of their property. These are things that the natural man does not do! He might do one or even two on rare occassion, but to see them become part of him is evidence of God’s fingerprints at work in you personally. Reflect on these things!

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In our morning devotional on the Psalms on January 26 he looks at .

English Standard Version Psalm 18

18 TO THE CHOIRMASTER. A PSALM OF DAVID, THE SERVANT OF THE LORD, WHO ADDRESSED THE WORDS OF THIS SONG TO THE LORD ON THE DAY WHEN THE LORD DELIVERED HIM FROM THE HAND OF ALL HIS ENEMIES, AND FROM THE HAND OF SAUL. HE SAID:

1  I love you, O LORD, my strength.

2  The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,

my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge,

my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

3  I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised,

and I am saved from my enemies.

4  The cords of death encompassed me;

the torrents of destruction assailed me;

5  the cords of Sheol entangled me;

the snares of death confronted me.

6  In my distress I called upon the LORD;

to my God I cried for help.

From his temple he heard my voice,

and my cry to him reached his ears.

English Standard Version Psalm 18

1  I love you, O LORD, my strength.

2  The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,

my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge,

my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

3  I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised,

and I am saved from my enemies.

4  The cords of death encompassed me;

the torrents of destruction assailed me;

5  the cords of Sheol entangled me;

the snares of death confronted me.

6  In my distress I called upon the LORD;

to my God I cried for help.

From his temple he heard my voice,

and my cry to him reached his ears.

He writes,

The Psalms repeatedly call God a refuge, because we so constantly need it. Habitually turning to God for refuge is the only real support we have in life. In David took refuge by remembering that God will put all things right eventually. In he took refuge by resting on God’s wise arrangement of his current life circumstances. Here we see David taking refuge by thanking God exuberantly for past blessings. When says, “I love you, Lord,” he uses an unusual Hebrew word that conveys deep emotion and passion. Cultivate such love by considering how God delivered you through the drama of the cross. That will make you strong. (The Songs of Jesus)

Here we see David taking refuge by thanking God exuberantly for past blessings. When says, “I love you, Lord,” he uses an unusual Hebrew word that conveys deep emotion and passion. Cultivate such love by considering how God delivered you through the drama of the cross. That will make you strong.