Hebrews chapter 10, verse 23. We'll read down through the end of the chapter, beginning at verse 23. Let's hear God's Word. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering, for He is faithful that promised. And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another. And so much the more, as ye see the day approaching, For if we sin willfully, after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking-for of judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries. He that despised Moses' law died without mercy unto two or three witnesses. Of how much surer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy who hath trodden underfoot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing, and hath done despot unto the Spirit of grace? For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me. I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, the Lord shall judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. But call to remembrance the former days, in which after ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions, partly whilst ye were made a gazing stock, both by reproaches and afflictions, and partly whilst ye became companions of them that were so used. for ye had compassion of me and my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance. Cast not away, therefore, your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith. But if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition, but of them that believe to the saving of the soul. And God will add his own blessing to that reading from his Word for his namesake. Let's bow our heads in a word of prayer and seek the Lord together. Father in heaven, in Jesus' name, we ask Thee now for the anointing of the Holy Spirit. We pray for the liberty that comes where the Spirit of the Lord is. We ask that all will hear a word in season tonight for their souls. Thou wilt help me, Lord, to explain the Word of God very clearly. Give me the application that will be close and personal for these Thy people. And may we all walk away this evening with a fresh sight of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, with fresh courage in our hearts, boldness that can only be explained in terms of the Spirit's work. In Jesus' name we pray, amen and amen. We come back this evening to this text in verse 35 where Paul says, "...cast not away therefore your confidence which hath great recompense of reward." I am tracing through that text, at least part of it, this theme of confidence in Christ in the face of severe persecution which is tempting these Hebrew Christians to forsake the gospel to forsake Christianity and to return back into Judaism, the apostle exhorts them with those very strong words, don't cast away your confidence. It has great recompense of reward. Satan was doing his utmost to get them to do that very thing. Throw away their confidence, their assurance, their trust in Jesus Christ. It is when the believer's confidence in the Lord is shaken that the temptations to give up stop running the race with patience. To throw in the towel, they become very strong temptations. Oh, you might continue plodding along in your Christianity. You may attend church regularly. But believe you me, people, there are plenty of Christians who have given up and they're still going through the motions. They've thrown in the towel. They've quit fighting. They've just put themselves down and they've given up all hope that anything would be different. Paul says, cast not away your confidence. When confidence in Christ has been cast away, when the assurance of God's Word, the persuasion of its truthfulness, its verity has been lost, when hope for deliverance has been abandoned, it is then there is this desire to—a loss of the desire and ability to actually carry on the fight. But the surefire defense to those temptations that we all have faced at some time or another is, as he puts it in chapter 3 of this book, to hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. I have to add here that the people of this day and age, Christians in this era, have got to learn this same lesson as much as the Christians in Paul's day. Believers are still targets of the devil's persecution. The persecution of the Lord's people in this land is on the rise. Dramatically so. Taking your stand on the Word of God is becoming an increasingly dangerous stand to take in America. I don't know if you saw the blip on the news, but Erskine College is in the news. They had two gay volleyball players, was it? And they made their statement that, you know, the only kind of relations that are viable, sexual, are within marriage of male and female. Students responded when they made their statement. They were really saddened by this because they'd always been treated with respect. These two gay students at Perkins University, or college, whatever it is, supposed to be a viable college. So I say to take your stand on the Word of God is becoming increasingly dangerous. The day is not far off when any pastor, any church or college that declares homosexuality to be sin, that refuses to marry them or allow them into membership will be charged with a hate crime. and you will be punished by civil authorities. That is going to happen. It's happened to a small degree, a small degree, but we haven't seen anything yet. What's going to take place in this land? You see, of course it's all part of a master plan of Satan. But the devil hates it when Christians show that there is a separation between his kingdom and Christ's kingdom. The reason that Nehemiah and the Jews of Jerusalem faced so much opposition from Sanballat and Tobiah and the pagans that were around about them was because they wanted to build the walls again of Jerusalem and shut them out. In other words, they were saying, there's a difference between us and between you. We're not the same. We're not on the same page by any stretch of the imagination. Matter of fact, when Sanbat and Tobiah came, they said, you have no part in this matter of building the wall. You're not one of us. That's separation from sin. The devil never, never likes that. doesn't like that wall of separation from the world built up in the lives of Christians. He wants to see the church and the world as one big happy family, embracing the wickedness You see, the separation is just a declaration of what God stated in the Garden of Eden. I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed. There it is. God said that he was going to put a division between the devil's kingdom and between his kingdom. And Satan knew right well that when Nehemiah set about building those walls again, it was going to shut out the influence of his kingdom on the kingdom of God. And he hated it, and he tried to stop it. The devil was the mastermind behind it all, and so you can be dead on shore that whenever, whenever you seek to separate from sin, to separate yourself or your home or your life from the influence of this world and the world's God, then you're going to expect the devil to try to destroy your confidence in Christ, just to demolish it. Well, that confidence will also be needed when you see other Christians grow cold in their love for Christ and grow cold in their pursuit of purity. It will be needed, this confidence in the Savior, confidence in the gospel, when you see men and women who had at one time taken a very firm stand upon the Word of God and for the Lord, who have fallen into sin. you'll need to have your confidence steady. You'll be needed when you see so many of the Lord's people live like this world is their home, who live as if materialism is their God. These things the devil will use to try and shake your confidence in Christ, and in shaking your confidence in him, try and get you to go down the same path back off Don't go that way. Too much trouble. You need an easier life. You've worked for it after all. Luxury. Sacrifice? Forget about it. Why do you want to put yourself in a place of being persecuted? It's easier just to keep your mouth shut and say nothing. You're only going to store up a hornet's nest. And so the Apostle says, cast not away your confidence. I began to consider what I'm calling the essence of confidence in Christ. From this text you realize from all that Paul has been saying since the end of Hebrews 5 that it is one thing above all others that we are to be persuaded of the validity and the value and the victory of the priesthood of Jesus Christ. Persuaded of it, confident in that priesthood. This isn't just for Jews in Paul's day. The scriptures have been given to the church. This is doctrine that we need to know. If we're going to be steadfast to the end, because he that endureth to the end shall be saved. To the end. I don't know what I'll have to face before I die. But I know one thing I've got to endure to the end. I therefore must have complete confidence in the priesthood of Jesus Christ. Remember, we said that this word confidence has this idea of being so persuaded of the truth of something that it produces within us this boldness and this assurance and this, can I say, fearlessness of heart. But you're not afraid. You're not afraid of what they will do to you. The fear will not shut your mouth. It's fear that keeps you seated when you should stand. It's fear that keeps your mouth sealed when it should open. Afraid. Confidence removes the fear. And so Paul tells them that they must not cast away their confidence in Christ's priesthood, which is to say that they are to have this unshaken confidence in, number one, I said, the pardon of Christ. Sins blotted out by his blood, not cast away their confidence in the praying of Christ. He's the great high priest. That's the priesthood all about. And when you are confident that Christ has pardoned you and that you're accepted by God any time, any place, any situation, because of that shed blood has atoned for your sin, and you know you're accepted forever because of him. And when you are persuaded that he is praying for you all the time, Praying that your faith fail not. Praying that the Father will bring you to glory. When you're confident that his prayers will never go unanswered. That he constantly prays on the merits of his own death. His own life. You will never need to fear what the devil or what man can do to you. Never. you'll never need to be afraid of life circumstances, whatever they are. Confidence in Christ produces that. Confidence in Christ's priesthood is confidence in his pardon, confidence in his praying. Thirdly, it is confidence in his position as the high priest. Paul has much to say in this epistle about Christ's work as the high priest of his people. It is the priesthood of Christ that's the very theme of this book. I'm sure you know that by now. In fact, you know that the priesthood of Christ is mentioned in all but two chapters in this book of 13? Chapter 1, chapter 13, chapter 11, but all the rest, the high priest is there. Cast not away therefore your confidence. because of the priesthood of Jesus. Note how Paul links the priesthood of Christ with his full assurance of faith. You'll find that down in verses 21 and 22. I should say back 21 and 22. Having a high priest, that's Jesus, over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith. Here that word is being fully persuaded. Isn't this interesting? They're facing life and death situations. You and I haven't gotten there yet. I don't think it's that far off, but you and I haven't gotten there yet because we're Christians. We're facing life and death situations. And I said, here's your remedy. It's getting your mind upon this priesthood of Jesus Christ. The full assurance of faith. Doubts, you know, are an awful thing. Doubting the Lord is an awful thing. Mainly because of the aspersion it casts upon Christ's work. It's awful to do that. It's awful to call into question what He has plainly said in His Word. But oh, the hurt it does to the cause of Christ, the hurt it does to our souls when, because we're so plagued with doubts. We're fearful and we're paralyzed. We're so unhappy. We're so miserable. It's the word that Paul uses this full assurance in Romans 4.21 where he said that Abraham was fully persuaded that what God had promised he was able to perform. He was confident that God would give him the seed. Therefore that there's this truth in Christ's priestly work that has been designed to instill this confidence in the Lord's people to defend us from these attacks, these doubts. That is his position as high priest. Where is he? First he's on the throne, Hebrews chapter 1 verse 3, he says, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high. Hebrews 8.1, we have such a high priest who is set on the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the heavens. And you compare that with what we just read in verse 21 of chapter 10, having a high priest over the house of God. All of those references, and many more like them by the way, show there is this blending of the priestly work of Christ and his kingly work. He's the high priest who is set at the right hand of the majesty. He's the high priest who's set on the right hand of the throne of God. He's the high priest who is over the house of God. This high priest of ours is on the throne. He's a king priest. And that truth underscores a couple of things about Christ that, when believed, will embolden you. and bring courage to the heart of the child of God. It underscores the success of our high priest because he sat down. You know, of course, there was no chair in the Old Testament tabernacle. The priests were continually working, standing the whole time. The high priest, when he went on the Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, he walked in, no place to sit. It was always standing because the great work had not been completed. But when Jesus Christ, as the fulfillment of all those Old Testament prophecies, cried out, Tetelestai, one word, finished, then he sat down because the work was finished. That speaks of success. You don't sit down until the job is done and the work was completed. If our heart condemn us not, then we have confidence toward God. The fact that the work is finished means there is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. None. And there cannot be, brothers and sisters. What do you do when your sins condemn you? Tell me, what do you do? Well, I pray the Lord forgive me, and I try to do better the next time. And the next time comes and He's in. What do you do? Well, I'll tell you there's only one place you'll ever find confidence and peace of mind that will last, and that is this king priest, Jesus, has sat down. The work is complete. It also underscores not only his success, but his sovereignty, because the priest is on the throne. He is the absolute monarch. He's all power to defend. He has all authority. That brings courage. You see, this king-priest is directing and controlling all people and all events in our lives. The last little detail. Whatever anybody says to us, be it good or bad, whatever anybody does to us, be it good or bad, nothing happens apart from the King. Nothing. I mean, if He's God, He's God. He's either in absolute control, or he is not in control at all. You see, when you have that confidence that that's a fact, well then I realize nothing's going to happen to me, nothing's going to happen to my family, nothing's going to happen to my church. It hasn't come through the hands of this king-priest. He's not shocked. He's not surprised. He's not afraid. No matter what Satan says, no matter what Satan does, because he knows he's the king. He knows exactly what he's doing. Do you not see how that just leaves the child of God, when believed, with calm confidence? If you and I can just get ourselves so worked up about things that I would call so silly, and I'm including myself. I mean, silly things. We're robbed of happiness. It leaves us glum and with foreboding thoughts. We become irritable. We bite somebody's head off. It all stems back to this. This king, who is our great high priest, is in absolute control. Not only is he on the throne, but the priest is in the holy place. Look at a couple of verses in Hebrews 9, 12 and 24. Hebrews 9, verse 12, neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. Drop down the same chapter, please, to verse 24. For Christ is not entered into the holy place made with hands, which are the figures of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us. And then we'll jump to verse 19 of chapter 10, having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. The high priest is in the holy place, the most holy place. There, in that most holy place, He is bearing on His heart, just as the Old Testament priest had that breastplate with the twelve stones representing the tribes of Israel, and dew upon His shoulders, and as Christ, bearing us up, lifting us up before His Father in heaven, and there He represents your interests and mine. He is there as our advocate pleading for us. He intercedes on our behalf. He's in the most holy place. being the forerunner who has gone in with a veil already, just waiting for us to come behind. And come behind we shall. Our fears won't stop us, our doubts won't stop us. They will not prevent us from entering in that most holy place one day. We therefore have every right to come with confidence to the throne of God. It's upon this ground that Paul said, therefore, he pleads, he beseeches us to pray with boldness at the throne of grace. The word is confidence because of the great high priest. Have you ever wondered, what does bold praying sound like? One thing I can tell you, it is not what Brother Lalo had when he started his work up. It's been about a year going now. I'd say probably 40, 50-ish people. Both in Jason Boyle's work, and Lalo's in Cordoba and in Orizaba, wherever that is, about 15 minutes away. Most of them have come out of a charismatic church. Most of them. Charismatic movement is prolific in Mexico. And he said, you know, this is Lalo, said, women would come in here and, you know, women in the charismatic movement are pastors. And they began to command God to do this and decree that and all kinds of things. Of course, he took them aside and said, that doesn't go on here. Very gently. He himself was the number two man in a very mega charismatic church and God brought him out of it. It's not this brashness, but boldness in prayer does sound like something. I mean, how could you actually say to someone, come to the throne of grace and pray with boldness, how would you ever know if there wasn't some objective basis to what boldness in prayer actually looks like or sounds like? Confidence. Praying with freedom. It's not in the volume of your words. It's that just confidence of heart. I've got the ear of God. And I don't know always what to pray for as I ought, and I can always say that I'm going to get a yes to the prayer, but I'm going to pray, and I'm going to pray believing that He hears me, and that I'm not wasting my time. I'm going to pray believing this God who said to me, the fervent earnest prayer of a righteous man availeth much. I'm going to believe that. I'm going to believe that. And I'll pray accordingly. I'll pray with my heart, not just with my lips. It's because of the great High Priest. Not only his pardon, his praying, his position, but the perpetuity as the High Priest. Back in chapter 7 in verse 24, Paul said, This man, Christ, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. There have been plenty of priests prior to Christ, but their priesthood always had to be changed because they had to die. Somebody new had to come in, but he said, because he rose again, he lives forever, he has an untrans- the word means intransmittable. Unchangeable means intransmittable priesthood. There's no one else that's going to take the place of Christ. He's a perpetual high priest. four times in Hebrews the statement is made that Jesus Christ is a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek and you'll find if you'll take the time to look in each case that phrase forever a high priest after the order of Melchizedek is in order to instill confidence in God's people when that confidence has been shaken every time all that we've said about Christ All of the benefits that are ours because of his priesthood, all of the blessings that belong to us, all the power, all the courage, all the confidence that his priestly work affords us is ours forever. And there is never going to come an end to it. Never. You can't do anything that will bring an end to it. You will never be able to do anything that will move Christ to stop praying for you. You'll never do anything that will ever take away the power of Christ's blood to cleanse you. Never will you do anything to usurp Christ from His throne. He will always be the King Priest. I change. He changes not. The Christ can never die. His love, not mine, the resting place. His truth, not mine, the tie. Bless the Lord, oh my soul. He's a perpetual high priest. Folks, this is not just academic theology. This beats at the heart of our walk, day in and day out. It beats at the heart of our calmness, our happiness, our usefulness to the Lord. Now, another thought. That's the essence. Let's look at the establishment of confidence in Christ. Establishment. You say, all that sounds good. How do I become established like that, preacher? How do I get this confidence? Because it seems like it doesn't take very much to shake my confidence. I seem to be so affected by my circumstances. I seem too often, far too often, to be afraid of people, of the future. Those doubts you talked about, they just plague me. Rest assured that confidence in Christ is something that can be established in the believer's heart and something that must be established. You know, it does not appear out of thin air. You don't wake up one day and now all of a sudden you have this great confidence in Jesus Christ. God doesn't wave a magic wand. and then all of a sudden you are full of that assurance of faith. We would like it to be like that. But that's not how it works. It doesn't work that way. You know one thing that sin has done to us? It's left us lazy. Just lazy. I'm talking about spiritual sloth. Oh, there are plenty of Christians that'll put in 80 hours a week at work. Hard workers. But when it comes to spiritual work, just lazy. Don't want to do it. They would never have that view about their job. crack of dawn, burn the midnight oil, go, go, go, go, go, but when it comes to this, they'll establish their family, they'll establish their home, they'll establish their finances, because that's the American dream after all, but establish their soul, establish their heart in the gospel, They know right well it doesn't work that way in the real world, in the workforce. I mean the success, the advancement doesn't come to you just through lying. I was going to say a word, I'll refrain from it. But just sitting down and taking it easy, it doesn't happen that way. They know that. They know they've got to really put the hours in. Do you think it's any different in the spiritual world? The very ground of our confidence, as we've seen, is what Christ has done and what Christ will continue to do as our high priest. But I would be wrong if I did not ask you to carefully consider the Christian's activity that is part of seeing the heart established in this confidence. First thing you have to do is cast away all confidence in the flesh. Cast away all confidence in yourself. Cast away all confidence in people. Do not look to yourself. Do not look to anybody else to give you this. Cast it aside. Paul has a lot to say about confidence in Philippians chapter 3. In fact, the apostle said that if any man thinks that he has grounds of having confidence in himself, it's him. Listen to him talk now. I will circumcise the eighth day of the stock of Israel. I'm the Jew's Jew. Of the tribe of Benjamin, the Hebrew of the Hebrews. As touching the law, I was a Pharisee. Couldn't go any higher. He was a member of the Sanhedrin, the ruling body in Israel, the cream of the crop. Concerning zeal, I persecuted the church. Touching the righteousness which is within the law, that outward conformity to it? You couldn't lay one finger on me. He said, I was blameless. Blameless. But Paul says emphatically in that same chapter, he has no confidence in the flesh. I cast it away. It's not me trying to be somebody, not depending upon myself and all these other things. If I'm depending upon those things, I'm not depending upon my great High Priest. One of the great reasons Paul had such unshakable confidence in Christ was because he had absolutely no confidence in the flesh. And let me explain what I mean by flesh. In this case the flesh, sometimes I can refer to sin, but in this case the flesh is referring to that which is natural to man, his own abilities, his own achievements, his own privileges. The unbelieving Jews had confidence in the fact that they had been circumcised according to the law of Moses. We're the circumcised. These pagan Gentiles, they're not uncircumcised. Our trust is in our circumcision. We're the people. They had great confidence in the law of Moses and their imagined obedience to that law. They thought they were pretty good. We're righteous. We don't need your salvation Christ. We've got the law of Moses. We've got that down pat. We don't commit adultery. We don't steal. We're a holy people. That was confidence in the flesh. And Paul says that as far as those kinds of grounds for confidence and boasting, I had them all beat. I too was circumcised. I was the tribe of Benjamin. I was the most zealous and blameless Pharisee of them all, but I was lost. I was lost. He says he looked at all of those privileges and all of those abilities and accomplishments. He says, now to me, you know what he called them, dung. manure. It's pretty graphic. It's waste. It stinks. I've done with it. I have no, of all people I could have confidence in the flesh, but to me now that stuff is just dung. It's useless. I have cast away all confidence in anything that has to do with me, with my flesh. You see, one thing Paul got in his theology was that God does not want any glorying in his presence. God says, don't you boast of my presence. What you are, I made you. You have gifts, I gave them to you. Anything. You are what you are by the grace of God. So don't boast in my presence. Don't brag. Don't get on your high horse. Don't look down at anybody. Never. Because that just says, I am confident in my flesh. I am confident in who I am. It's disgusting to God. He hates it. He's the only one that gets glory, not us. You see, confidence in Christ and confidence in the flesh are not going to be found growing together. The more your confidence in Christ grows, the less your confidence in the flesh is found. If a Christian has great confidence in Christ, you'll find his life is marked by no confidence in the flesh, no boasting, no bragging, no dependence on his own abilities. That's just the long and the short of it. But if there is, on the other hand, great confidence and hope and trust in the flesh, then you'll find a patent lack of confidence in Christ, especially during the trials of life, because all that's been built up is confidence in self, confidence in self. And it doesn't work in the trials. It won't hold you up. You are completely laid low because you realize, I don't have the strength to bear up under this trial. And you fall to pieces. And that's one of the very reasons that God himself takes actions to shatter our confidence, not in Christ, but in ourselves. He brings us into the fiery furnace. He causes us to stand before rivers that we just can't cross, mountains that we can't tunnel through. He gives us a thorn, and that is a very sharp pike, not something little, but he gives us a very painful thorn in our flesh. to teach us how helpless we are. You know what I find, people? I can talk about helplessness all day long. I can talk about how helpless I am, how weak I am, how dependent, how much I need God. I can talk about it. but then by my actions reveal that it's all talk. It's not this full assurance where there's calmness in my heart and there's courage in my soul. I'm not overwhelmed and overcome by whatever the providence of my King has put in my path. The Lord will have us to feel our need of his power, of his wisdom, of his ability. And so he brings us to places where we have no idea, like Jehoshaphat, we have no idea what to do, but our eyes are upon thee. Isn't that what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 12 to which I've been alluding? There was given to me this thorn in the flesh. Why? Lest I should be exalted above measure. I know my tendency to get proud about the experiences I've had and God knew it as well. He sent a thorn in my flesh that put me on my knees and humbled me and I realized I cannot deal with this apart from grace. No, Paul, I'm not taking it away, but I'll tell you one thing, you need to learn that my grace is sufficient and you will be able to deal with it with my grace. What you think you can't face, you will face, because my grace is sufficient. It's when God made Paul feel his weakness that he got confident in God's power. That's what I'm after here in this point. Casting away our confidence in the flesh. I don't like being put there. I'll be honest with you, I do not like being put in a situation where I have no idea what to do. I don't like it. But I'll tell you, God has put me there so many times. I've had to cry to him, Lord, I don't know what to do. I don't know how to deal with this situation. I don't know how to deal with this person. I don't know what to do. If I do this, this could happen. If I do that, that could happen. I don't know. And it's like the Lord says, good, I'm glad you don't know because I do know. And you just look to me and I'll take care of it. And furthermore, to establish confidence in Christ. Not only cast away all confidence in the flesh, but avail yourself of every means at your disposal to learn all you can of Christ. To learn all you can of Christ. Now you and I know that this is how it works in the secular realm, if you'll allow me that division of secular and sacred please. Someone takes a new job and everything is new to them. You've been there and done that. There's a whole lot of uncertainty because you haven't learned the ropes. There's a lack of confidence. And there should be the lack of confidence if you have someone who's gone to a brand new job and they act like, hey I got this, I get very worried. It's already a fail. But the uncertainty begins to diminish. and the confidence begins to grow as that person gains knowledge of their job through experience. They grow in their knowledge of that business, of that field, whatever it might be, and you see them begin to transform and change, to morph, and they become more confident. I'm not talking about cockiness. God forbid that. overconfidence, but with that increase of knowledge, there comes an increase of confidence. That's how it works, and the same holds true in the spiritual realm. Our confidence in Christ grows as our knowledge of Him grows, as our experience of Him grows, this relationship You don't just wake up one day and you have great confidence in Christ. It's as you and I avail ourselves of the opportunities that are there that the knowledge grows of who He is, what He has done, what He's doing, and what He's yet going to do. Confidence in this book and what it says about Him that brings about the change. And then, you know, we're anchored. We're not tossed about by the storm so like our little cork on the ocean. We don't fall to pieces. Because we've learned Him. We found out the anchor holds. And it's going to continue to hold. And everything is alright. It's very difficult to have confidence in someone you don't know. Or in someone you only know in a casual way. Every Christian knows Christ for that's fundamental salvation. Can't be saved if you don't know Him. But I believe that one of the greatest reasons, if not the greatest, that so many of the Lord's people lack confidence in Christ and are so easily shaken, whether a thing, I can't go on, I throw in the towel, is because that Christ is known in a casual way. Just casually. Not intimate. You all have casual friends, don't you? In your life. They're not your bosom buddies. And they would never be your bosom buddies, for whatever reasons, but you just know they're not going to be bosom buddies with me. Might be personality clashes, it might be different ages, it might be, well, just have different interests, but They're casual. You talk to them now and then. Have a little chat. But the ones that are really your close friends, the ones that you confide in, oh, there's a reason for that confidence. There's a reason you open up your heart to them. You've gotten to know them. It's a fool who opens up his heart or her heart to someone they don't even know. Because you don't know where they're going to take what you tell them. That's insanity. But once you've gained their confidence, they've gained yours, you open up your heart, you share with them. But it came through getting to know them. It works the same way here, brothers and sisters. My confidence in Christ has come through some magic wand. We avail ourselves of every opportunity before us to know Him. Isn't that what Paul said? My confidence in these things, I count them but done. But this one thing I do, this is what I want, that I might know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings being made conformable unto His death. I think there are Christians who know their TV programming better than they know Christ. They know their sports teams and their sports idols better than they know Christ. They're very confident in their knowledge of those things, but they're not confident in their knowledge of Christ. because they have not availed themselves of the opportunities that are there to know Him. The implication, of course, is quite simple. If we do not make use of every means of grace at our disposal, if we do not hold this constant communion with Christ, Our knowledge of Him is going to be very limited, and the end result is our confidence in Him is not going to be strong. And we will be tossed about, and we will be fearful. Believe you me when I say the devil has a thousand and one ways and a thousand and one excuses why you should not Read your Bible. Why you should not pray. Why in the world do you think it's a battle? Why do you have a hard time really getting down to earnest prayer? He'll marshal all kinds of arguments. To keep God's people away from the house of God, this is a means of grace. Stay home. To keep them away from the prayer meeting? To keep them away from the preaching of God's Word? Why does he do that? He knows that the more they know of God, he knows for a fact that their confidence is going to grow. So what do you do? You cut the channel off. You cut the pipeline off. Keep the flow of knowledge away. When you have a Christian who is full of confidence in Christ, you have a Christian who takes the devil very seriously. I could preach another sermon on my last point, but I'm going to give you three words. It's the effects, the effects of confidence in Christ. First effect is courage, obviously. Courage. You're not driven by fear. You're very courageous. It's not the kind of courage that you find with men on a battlefield, rushing forward amidst the bullets that are flying all about them. That's human. It's the courage that comes from God the Spirit. Calmness. Calmness. Not deadness. A calm soul. And a crown. A crown. You have need of patience, verse 36, that after you have done the will of God you might receive the promise. The promise is the crown of righteousness that the Lord will give to them that love his appearing. Confidence in Christ. Well then let's pray for each other that our knowledge of him will grow. that we might be a band of believers who are not controlled by fear, but are full of confidence, not in ourselves, but in Christ. God, write that word on our hearts. For His name's sake, let's bow our heads in prayer and seek Him together. Father in heaven, we thank Thee. We bless Thee tonight for this great high priest who sits now at Thy right hand and even now prays for us. That Thou wouldst bless us. Thou wouldst bless this word to our souls. Give to us, we pray, in the days that lie ahead for our congregation, this confidence that Paul speaks of here, that the Spirit of God has set before us. We know, Lord, that that means we're going to be faced with situations that call for confidence. We're going to be tested, challenged. Satan will not sit idly by. We know that's what Thy Word teaches us, so now we pray, Lord, all for the grace every day to get to know Christ a little better. In His name we pray it. Amen and amen.