Cast not away your confidence. Confidence is a wonderful thing,
isn't it? It really is a blessed thing. And how foolish it is
to cast it away. Now, the writer to the Hebrews
saw something in these people that made him realize they were
drifting in the direction of casting off their confidence. That word cast off is the same
word that's used to Bartimaeus, casting off his garments, getting
rid of their confidence. They were in danger of casting
off their confidence. Now, what's that all about? Look
back in verse 32 of Hebrews chapter 10. But call to remembrance the former
days. You know, a great part of faith
is remembering. Remembering what He said. Remembering what He did. Remembering to do what He tells
you to do. Unbelief is forgetting. We read
of the forgetful hearer. In Psalm 111, verse 4, David
said, he hath made his wonderful works to be remembered. In Psalm 77, 11, David said,
I will remember the works of the Lord. I will remember thy
wonders. of old. I will meditate also
of thy work and talk of thy doing." It said of the Holy Spirit in
John chapter 14 verse 26, He will teach you all things and
bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you. And you know preaching, what
we're doing right now, it's bringing things to remembrance. Turn with
me for a moment to 2 Peter. 2 Peter chapter 1 verse 12. Wherefore I will not be negligent. to put you always in remembrance
of these things. This is what I'm always going
to be doing. I'm going to be reminding you of these things, the things
of the gospel. Though you know them and be established
in the present truth, yea, I think it meet as long as I'm in this
tabernacle to stir you up by putting you in remembrance. Look in chapter three, verse
one of second Peter, this second epistle, beloved, I now write
unto you in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of
remembrance. Now, unbelief is forgetting. Forgetting what he said. Forgetting
what he did, forgetting where to look. But faith is remembering. Now look back at verse 32 of
Hebrews chapter 10. But call to remembrance the former
days in which after you were illuminated. Now, he states this
in such a way as nobody could misunderstand what he was saying.
You were illuminated. You didn't figure this out. This
is not something that you were smart enough to grasp. You were
illuminated. God enlightened you. God revealed
Himself to you. And if I have any true understanding,
it's because of illumination. It's because God gave me light. Oh, illuminate. What came first
in the first creation? Light. Let there be light. What comes first in the new creation,
in the second creation? Light. Light as to who God is
in His true character. Light as to who you are in your
sinfulness and inability. When God illuminates you, you
find out who God is, you find out who you are, and you find
out salvation. You find out that He is salvation.
That's what happens when God illuminates. Turn to John chapter
8. I love this story. John chapter
8, verse 12. Then spake Jesus again
unto them, saying, I am the light of the world. He that followeth
me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life."
Now, I am the light of the world. He said this on the heels of
this very important story. Look in verse 1 of John chapter
8, Jesus went into the Mount of Olives and early in the morning,
He came again into the temple and all the people came unto
Him and sat down and taught them. And the scribes and Pharisees
brought unto Him a woman taken in adultery, And when they had
set her in the midst, they said unto her, Master, this woman
was taken in adultery in the very act. There's no question
regarding her guilt. We saw her. We caught her. I
guess they had her set up. Now, Moses in the law commanded
us that such should be stoned. And that's exactly what that
deserves. Such should be stoned. But what
sayest thou? This they said, tempting him,
that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down and
with his fingers wrote on the ground as though he heard them
not. I'd love to think about the Lord doing that. They were
talking, they had all kinds of things to say, but he just stooped
down and writing something with his fingers and acted like he
wasn't paying a bit of attention to them. Don't you hear us? No,
I'm not listening. Verse 7, So when they continued
asking him, he lifted up himself and said unto them, He that is
without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. And
again, he stooped down and wrote on the ground. Two times he stooped
down to write. I believe the first time, it
was two times, got the finger of God, I said, to write in the
scriptures. Do you remember? The first time when he wrote
the law. thou shalt not commit adultery." And you remember the
next time the finger of God wrote? That finger in Daniel, thou art
weighed in the balances and found wanting. Now, that's speculation,
but I believe that's probably what our Lord was writing. Now,
again, He stooped down and wrote on the ground, verse 9, and they
which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went
out one by one, knowing they were guilty of what this woman
had done, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last. And Jesus
was left alone and the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus
had lifted up himself and saw none but the woman, he said unto
her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? Hath no man condemned
thee? She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither
do I condemn thee. Go and sin no more. Now, Jesus
Christ, the Lord, is the light as to how that can be. He can
look at that woman who was guilty, caught in the very act, and the
law did command her to be stoned, and he could say to her, I don't
condemn you. Now how can that be? The only
way I can understand that is the light of the Gospel. That
woman's adultery, that woman's sin was laid upon the Lord Jesus
Christ, and He bore the punishment of that sin. He was punished
in her place. His righteousness is given to
her, and now the Lord says to her, I don't condemn you because
there's nothing to condemn you for. You see, her sin was put
away. Christ Jesus is the light of
the world as to how God can accept A sinner. Now, after you are
enlightened, let's go back to our text in Hebrews chapter 11
or 10. The call to remembrance, the
former days in which after the you were illuminated. You endured
a great fight of afflictions. partly whilst you were made a
gazing stock, both by reproaches and afflictions, and partly while
you became companions of them that were so used. Now, being
given this light, you endured great afflictions. And this is
something to think about. The early Christians suffered
greatly for their faith. They were exposed to ridicule
and enmity. They were deprived of their property.
They were made a spectacle by their lives and by their deaths.
They were imprisoned. They were executed in a way that
was more cruel than what other criminals had to endure. They
were put in amphitheaters and they were torn apart by bears
and by lions. They were burned at the stake
to light up Nero's gardens. Men and women alike were cruelly
and slowly tortured to death because of their faith in Christ.
Where was their strength found that would enable them to go
through that? What if you knew that you were going to be tied
to a stake and burn up because you identify with the gospel
preached in this church? Where would your strength come
from? Well, he'd have to give it to you. It's him strengthening
us, and this strength is confidence in himself. The strength that
he gives us is confidence in himself. That's what will enable
someone to endure that kind of suffering, an actual confidence
in the Lord God. Now, he says in verse 34, for
going through all these things, You had compassion of me in my
bonds, and you took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing
in yourselves that you have in heaven a better and an enduring
substance." Now, you had compassion on me, and it actually made you
take joyfully when people confiscated your property because of the
gospel you confessed. Now, I want you to think about
that. I'm trying to put myself in this position. What if I knew
I was going to lose everything because of the gospel I preach?
If I keep my mouth shut, I'll get to keep my property. But
if I preach the gospel, if I confess the gospel, if I identify with
those people who believe the gospel, what if they were going
to take my property? Well, how did they take it? They
took joyfully. Joyfully the spoiling of their
goods knowing that in heaven they have a better and more enduring
Substance they counted a privilege turn over to Acts chapter 4 Acts
chapter 4 Verse 29 and now Lord Behold
their threatenings and grant unto thy servants that we might
be protected from them. No, grant unto thy servants that
with all boldness, confidence, they may speak thy word. Look in chapter five, verse 41,
and they departed from the presence of the council rejoicing that
they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name. And daily
in the temple and in every house they ceased not to teach and
preach Jesus Christ. They counted it a blessing. Turn
over to Matthew chapter 5 for a moment. Now, this is a gift
of grace. Now, let me make this comment
upon it. If I'm honest with what the gospel
is, I'll make enemies. And if I'm not making any enemies,
I'm not telling the truth. If I'm not making people angry
with what I'm saying, I'm not preaching the gospel of God's
grace. Now, the gospel incites the hatred of men. They find
it offensive. They don't like the gospel. Look
here in Matthew 5. Verse 10. Blessed are you or blessed are
they which are persecuted for righteousness sake." Now what's
he talking about when he's talking about being persecuted for righteousness
sake? Is he talking about you being persecuted because you
have good works and you do good things and people get mad at
you? No, no, you won't be persecuted for that. People congratulate
you. They'll put your picture in the paper and say, boy, he
gave so much to a hospital. He gave this and he did that.
That's not what that's talking about. Our Lord is talking about
being, when He's talking about being persecuted for righteousness
sake, He's talking about you're persecuted because you maintain
publicly that the righteousness of Jesus Christ is the only righteousness
there is. saved by His righteousness. Why? That'll lead men to sin.
you maintain it, no matter what men say about it. No matter what
they charge you with, you maintain it. That's what he's talking
about when he's talking about being persecuted for righteousness sake. Blessed
are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs
is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when men shall
revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil
against you falsely for my sake. Why, they'll make all kinds of
accusations because of the gospel you preach. They'll say, well,
he must not care about good works living right and he's an antinomian,
he's a wicked man. They'll say all kinds of things.
What does our Lord do? He says, rejoice and be exceeding
glad for great is your reward in heaven for so persecuted they
the prophets which were before them. Now, he said, you took
joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing that in heaven
you have a better substance anyway. You see, everything here is temporary.
It's just temporary. The Lord giveth and the Lord
taketh away the glory that awaits you. You know, I was thinking about
this. You know, if He says to me, well
done, it would be worth a life of pain and suffering nonstop. You believe that? Just to hear
Him say, well done, thou good and faithful servant, enter thou
into the joy of thy Lord. It wouldn't matter what took
place, just to hear His voice. Now, verse 35 of our text, Hebrews
10. He says, remember the former days, how
you endured all these things for Christ's sake. Now, cast
not away your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. Now that word confidence is generally
translated boldness. Look in verse 19 of Hebrews chapter
10. Having therefore brethren boldness
to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. You know
the whole gospel is in that word. This boldness that we have to
come into God's very presence. I've got boldness. I've got confidence. It doesn't mean I'm a real confident
person. It doesn't have anything to do
with self-confidence. It's Christ's confidence. It's a boldness that
you really believe that what He did is all you need and it
makes you able to enter into the very presence of God through
Him. And there's a boldness, a confidence
to do this. Now this word is sometimes translated
openness, sometimes plainness, great plainness of speech. And
what this confidence is, it's that freedom, that peace that
arises from believing the gospel. It's the at-homeness. You know
how you're at home you feel liberty to do anything you want. I can
go into any room and I know I'm welcome there. I know there's
not a reason why I can't come because I'm at home. If I'm at
somebody else's house, I don't feel that way. But if I'm at
my own home, I have boldness, I have confidence to go anywhere
and know it's all right. Now this confidence, cast not
away from your confidence. This confidence is made of several
things. First, this confidence that a believer has, this childlike
peace, the confidence that a child has in his father. This childlike
peace comes, first of all, from a conviction of the truth of
the gospel. Now, I believe what I'm preaching. I believe the truthfulness of
it. I believe the Bible's the Word of God. the inspired, inerrant
Word of God. I believe that. And I believe
every doctrine of the Word of God. I believe that you can't
preach the gospel and not preach what we call sovereign grace. Men are totally depraved. God
elected before time began a people. Christ died for those people
and accomplished their salvation. God's grace to them, the grace
of the Holy Spirit, is irresistible and invincible. And everybody
that Christ died for, everybody that God elected, everybody that
the Holy Spirit gave a new nature to, they're going to persevere
all the way to the end walking with Christ. I believe that.
That's the truth. That's what the Bible teaches.
I've got confidence in that. And I've got such confidence
that I know this. Somebody that doesn't preach this doesn't preach
the gospel. Somebody that doesn't believe this doesn't believe
the gospel. This is the gospel. This is gospel to me. This is
the way God saves. The only way I can be saved is
if Christ does everything for me. That's gospel. That's good
news. And I have confidence that this
is the message of the Scripture. Somebody says, well, I don't
agree with you. Well, that's fine. It's a free country, but
I know this is the truth. Confidence. Oh, it's a blessed
thing to have some confidence that you really believe the message
of the Bible. With this confidence, Where there
is this confidence, there is also a willingness to confess
the truth before men. Look here in Hebrews chapter
10 verse 23, let us hold fast the profession of our faith,
not just hold fast faith, but hold fast the profession or the
confession of our faith without wavering, regardless of the cost. God forbid that I should glory,
saving the cross, but God forbid that I should not glory, saving
the cross. I am to publicly declare what
I believe to be true. I'm to publicly identify with
what I believe to be true. And this is what every, this
is where this confidence, if you won't be public about it,
you don't really have any confidence. What is it somebody really believes? what they preach publicly, what
they identify with publicly, not what they talk about in conversation.
I believe this. The only way you can really tell
what I, if somebody wants to know what I believe, ask the
folks that listen to me. That's the way they can tell
you. If I tell you, I might not be giving you the whole truth.
But the way you can tell what somebody believes is by what
they preach publicly, what they identify with. publicly. Now this confession begins in
baptism, and it's carried on through life. With the heart
man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession
is made unto salvation. And if I won't stand publicly
for the gospel, it's because I do not really believe it. There's
such a confidence in the truthfulness of the gospel that you will stand
publicly for it. And to have confidence is to
believe that you have a saving interest in the truth you confess.
And let me repeat that. To have true confidence, you
have to believe that you have a saving interest in the truth
you confess. You won't die for something that
you feel you have no interest in. You know, the man who can
live and die for Christ, is the man who believes Christ lived
and died for him. Isn't that so? Confidence is
assurance. This is the assurance and the
boldness that comes from His blood. Now, I am more aware of my sinfulness
and my weakness and my inability than I've ever been before. That being said, I have boldness. confidence to enter into the
very holy of holies, the presence of God, and know that I'm embraced
and accepted because of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now,
that's the confidence I have. It's not a fleshly confidence.
It's confidence in Him. It's confidence in His grace.
It's confidence in His righteousness. It's confidence in the gospel
I believe. This is a gospel. This is the
gospel that can save somebody like me. Thank God for that. Confidence is relying on the
faithfulness of God. You really believe that He's
faithful. You really believe that He will
do what He said He was going to do. You really believe, Romans
8.28, that all things really do work together for good, to
them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose. It's the confidence that a child
has toward his father. He believes Himself to be loved
and accepted by God. Here's this confidence. Ephesians
1, 6 says, He hath made us accepted. He hath made us. Listen to the strength of that
language. He hath made us accepted in the Beloved. I can't get any
more loved? I can't be any less loved. I
can't be any more accepted. I can't be any less accepted.
I am accepted in the Beloved and what confidence there is
in that. Confidence that He hears our
prayers and will give us what we need even we don't know what
it is we need. We know He knows and we're confident in that.
And here's the confidence. It's confidence in His ability. And this is what this confidence,
this is where this boldness comes from. This confidence, it's confidence
in his ability. Lord said to that, those two
blind bells, he said, do you believe that I am able to do
this? They said, yay, Lord. Abraham
staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but
was strong in faith, giving glory to God, being fully persuaded
that what he had promised, he was able also to perform. Paul said, I know whom I have
believed, and I am persuaded that He is able to keep that
which I've committed to Him against that day. And I tell you what,
I'm committing to Him right now. I'm committing to Him right now.
No other hope. No other hope. The Lord Jesus
Christ, who He is and what He did. I'm committing the entire
salvation of my soul to Him right this minute. My hands are off. I'm not looking anywhere else.
Now, this is what this confidence is. It's a confidence in His
ability. Now, cast not away your confidence. which hath great recompense of
reward." Now, most of the commentators say that what the writer of the
Hebrews is talking about, he's talking about the shield of faith. And the Spartans in that day,
they would have shields that would cover their entire body.
And there was a saying, said, either come back with your shield
or come back with them carrying you on your shield. You were
to never let go of your shield. And the scripture calls, speaks
of above all things, holding the shield of faith, wherewith
we shall quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And I think
that is what this is a reference to. Don't put down your shield. Cast not away your confidence. Now, how do we cast off this
confidence? It's a very real danger, or the writer would have
said, don't do it. How is it that we cast off this
confidence? And like I said, confidence is such a blessed
thing. To have confidence that I know the Lord and that He knows
me. To have confidence that His righteousness is mine. To have
confidence that I'm preaching the truth, I'm preaching the
gospel. To have confidence that so I'll confess Him before men.
It's such a blessed thing to have confidence. Now how is it
that a man or woman can get to the place where they cast off
their confidence. First, by turning it into self-confidence. Is self-confidence a good thing?
No, it's a bad thing. We have confidence in Christ. Paul says in Philippians chapter
3 verse 3, we are the circumcision which worship God in the Spirit,
rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. And I have no confidence in my
flesh or in your flesh. No confidence in anything that
has anything to do with me. All I have confidence in is what
Christ did for me, who He is, what He did for me. how he's
preserving me. No confidence in the flesh. You've
heard that story. Spurgeon told, I've given that
story several times, how that there was a poor kind of dim-witted
man by the name of Jack the Huckster. And he heard someone say, I'm
a poor sinner and nothing at all. But Jesus Christ is my all
in all." And God gave him grace to believe that. And he rejoiced
in it. I'm a poor sinner and nothing
at all. But Jesus Christ is my all in
all. So he wanted to join the church
and they wanted to give him some questions first. They said, well,
what's your experience? He said, I don't have any. Don't have
any. I'm nothing at all. Poor sinner. What about conviction? Don't
you feel any conviction? Don't you ever get depressed
over what you are? He said, well, I said I'm a poor
sinner and nothing at all. Yeah. He said, well, do you ever
have times of rejoicing? He said, well, I said Jesus Christ
is my all in all. What more could I want? I'm a
poor sinner. and nothing at all. That's me.
I find such comfort in that. I'm a poor sinner and nothing
at all. But Jesus Christ is my all in
all. He's my all before God. He is
my salvation. Now, that is confidence and you
cast away your confidence when you leave that, when you become
something more than a poor sinner and nothing at all. And listen
to me. The only way that you and I can receive His fullness
is from our emptiness. If I'm not completely empty,
I cannot receive His fullness. I cast off my confidence by my
sin. I cast off my confidence by my
sin. Now, what do I mean by that?
I don't have assurance because of how I'm living. I really don't. My assurance is the righteousness
and merits of Christ. My assurance is the freeness
of God's grace. My assurance is the power of
His blood. My assurance is union with the
Lord Jesus Christ as He is, so am I in this world. My assurance
has nothing to do with my preaching, with my prayers, with my witnessing,
with my anything I do. It has nothing to do with my
assurance. I have assurance because of Christ.
And let me also say this, if I live contrary to what God says
in His Word, I will lose my assurance. I'll lose my confidence. I'll
lose that childlike confidence in Christ. Now, the assurance
doesn't come from my obedience, but I guarantee you if I'm disobedient,
I will not have this assurance. You cast away your confidence
when you become self-confident. You cast away your confidence
in your sin. And think of this, you cast away
your confidence When you make your life around unbelievers,
when you make them your friends, it has such a deadening influence.
They always bring you down and you never bring them up. And
remember, these people that you're making your friends are people
who hate your Lord. Why would you want to have these people
as your friends? And anytime that I start mixing with unbelievers
in that sense, now that doesn't mean stay away from me, I'm holier
than thou. You know that's not what I'm
talking about. I mean, I want to mix with unbelievers and preach
the gospel to them and be an influence in that sense. I want
us to be witnesses of the Lord Jesus Christ. But I'm talking
about when you make your friends unbelievers, where you hang out socially with
unbelievers. There's nothing good that comes out of that.
All it does is deaden you. We cast away our confidence when
The one motive for living gets skewed. His glory. If His glory is my aim, everything's
alright. I don't care what happens to
me. If His glory is my aim, it doesn't matter whether I'm never
heard of again. As long as He's glorified, I'm
satisfied. And if I have any other motive
than that, everything's going to go wrong. In preaching, if my aim is to
please men, I'll not preach the truth. I'll try to please them. But if my aim is God's glory,
I won't hold back anything. Because really, in reality, I
don't care what men think. I just care what he thinks. God's
glory is the only motive. You see, this confidence that
we're speaking of has great recompense of reward. I like that language.
Great recompense of reward. Now, we read of the joy and the
peace of believing. That's a great recompense of
reward, isn't it? The joy and the peace of believing. and in the life to come, eternity
with the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, let's read one other verse,
verse 36. "'Cast not away therefore your
confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. For you
have need of patience, that after you've done the will of God,
you might receive the promise.'" Now, you have need, I have need
of patience. Now, I don't think of myself as a
patient person in any way. I'm not. But I like thinking
about the patience of Christ. And when I think about His patience,
it makes me patient. What do I mean by that? You know,
we read several times in Scripture of the patience of the Lord Jesus
Christ, the kingdom and the patience of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
as a matter of fact, we're supposed to run our race with patience,
looking unto Jesus, the author. Let us run with patience the
race that's set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher
of our faith. Now, what is the patience of
Christ? Christ is never impatient. And here's why. His will is always
done. He has complete control of everything. You can't take His control too
far. It's called His sovereignty.
He controls everything and everybody. He controls all men, believers,
unbelievers, angels, demons. He controls all physical circumstances. He controls the weather. He controls
everything. Now, if I really believe He controls
everything, I'm patient. His will is going to be done.
And I might not know what he's doing, but he does. And that
is fine with me. Patience. You have need of patience. Really believing. Patience is
the fruit of faith. If you believe that Christ has
control, you'll be patient. Patience. If you believe He's
patient, or if you believe He's in control, you will be patient.
Now, you have need of patience that after you've done the will
of God, you might receive the promise. After you have done
his will, you will receive the promise that is given for doing
it. Now, what is doing his will?
Well, let's start right here. Believe the gospel. Believe the gospel. Believe what
he says. Call to remembrance the former
days. You see, you cast off your confidence
when you lose your first love. I think of what Paul said to
the Galatians. He said, where is the blessedness
you speak of? I pray the Lord will deliver
us from losing our first love and casting off our confidence. Don't do that because this confidence
has great recompense of reward. Let's pray together.