Would you turn with me to Ephesians
chapter 3? Lord willing, next Sunday morning
we're going to have a baptismal service. A lady that's been watching
from the TV program wants to confess Christ in believers baptism. She's from West Liberty, Kentucky.
And if anyone wants to be baptized during that time, let me know
because we'll be having, like I said, a baptismal service next
Sunday morning. I've entitled this morning's
message, Confidence. Confidence. Turn to Ephesians chapter three. I guess you're there. I want
to read one verse of scripture. In whom we have boldness, and
access with confidence by the faith of Him. A couple of days ago, it seemed
or it appeared as if the Lord was giving me the grace to think
about him without thinking about myself. Or at least that's the
way it seemed. I'm sure self was there somewhere,
but I wasn't aware of it. The Lord gave me the grace to
think about him, how beautiful he is, how perfectly just he
is. There's no unrighteousness in
him. How holy He is. How sovereign He is. He controls
everything. How wise He is. How powerful He is. Just thinking about Him. And as I was thinking of the
beauty of Christ, I found myself praising Him for who He was. And even found myself telling
him, I love him. I adore him. And while that was going on,
all of a sudden I thought, what makes you think he would even
accept your praise? Why would that thought come up?
Well, that's an easy question to answer because I'm a sinner.
That's why that thought came up. because I'm a sinner. There's a scripture in Psalm
chapter 50 verse 16 that says, But unto the wicked God saith,
What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, and that thou shouldest
take my covenant into thy mouth? Kind of like a liar speaking
of the virtue of telling the truth. It's kind of hollow, isn't
it? Or a murderer talking about the sanctity of life. Not a whole
lot to it. Or an adulterer talking about
the importance of fidelity in a marriage. Sometimes who's saying
something can kind of affect how it's perceived and received. And I thought, what would make
me think that God, the God of glory, the holy God would accept
my praise and thanksgiving? having some small knowledge of
what I am by nature, what makes me think that God would accept
my praise and my worship. And as I was thinking about this,
this scripture came into my mind for which I was very grateful.
Started getting kind of scared. And the Lord brought this scripture
to my memory, Ephesians chapter three, verse 12, in whom we have
boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him. Now I have three goals or objectives
in bringing this message. First, I want to tell the truth.
That's my first objective. That's always my first objective.
I want to tell the truth concerning what God says in His Word. I
want to tell the truth of this verse. What it's actually saying. And secondly, I want everybody
here to know the way of access to God. I'll be so grateful if
everybody here can leave. And you can only understand the
way of access if God teaches you. I can say it as clear as
it can be said, and it won't make any difference unless God's
pleased to bless it to your heart. But I want everybody here to
know the way of access, how you can come into God's presence
and be accepted and even be embraced. And I thirdly want every believer
to know this joy, this assurance, this boldness that we read of
in this passage of scripture. The boldness that comes from
believing and understanding exactly what this verse is saying. Now,
if you and I can get a hold of what this verse is saying, this
one verse of scripture, it's going to give us some boldness.
It's going to give us some confidence. It's going to give us some joy,
the same joy that John spoke of when he said in 1 John 3,
verse 21, Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we
confidence. Boldness is the same word, the
same word sometimes translated confidence, sometimes boldness,
sometimes plainness, boldness before God. Now, how does one
attain to this level of confidence? that the Scripture speaks of,
in whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the
faith of Him. Now, I want to have this confidence,
don't you? I want to have this boldness. You know, even in worldly
things, confidence is so helpful. A person with confidence just
seems to get on in life better than someone who has no confidence,
don't they? You've seen that. People who lack confidence get
stuck in such ruts, afraid to do anything. I've got a question
for you. Do you have any reason to lack
confidence and assurance in Christ? If we answer, well, it's not
the Lord I lack confidence in, but it's myself I lack confidence
in. I've said that before. It's not the Lord I doubt, it's
me. You ever thought about how stupid
that is? Well, sure you ought a bit doubt
yourself. You got every reason to. But you know, I find quite
often that pride comes in real pious and humble language. You know, underneath that statement,
it's not the Lord I doubt, it's myself. Underneath all that is
self-righteousness. That's the only thing that would
cause us to say something like that. If you really are not trusting
yourself, that means you're trusting Him. And if you're not trusting
Him completely, that means you're looking to yourself, doesn't
it? Of course you ought to doubt
yourself, but does that mean you doubt? That's why you trust
Him, isn't it? Isn't that why you trust Him? Because there's
nothing about you to trust. That's why we trust Him. That's
why we look to Him. Self-righteousness generally
uses very humble language. Verse 12 of Ephesians chapter
3, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence by
the faith of Him. Now my first question is who
is the we that Paul is speaking of when he says in whom we have
boldness? Who is this we referring to?
Who is Paul talking about. Here's the answer to that question.
Every believer without exception. Everybody for whom Jesus Christ
died. All of the company of God's elect. Everyone who's born of God. Every believer without exception.
In whom we have boldness. He's not just talking about a
specific few. He's not just talking about an
upper echelon. He's talking about every believer in whom we, that's
me, that's you, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence
by the faith of Him. We have it, that means we've
got it. It doesn't say we ought to have boldness and we'll have
access with confidence if It says we've got it. Every believer
has this access. The word access means freedom
of entrance through the favor of another. Every believer has
this access. And we have every reason for
boldness with confidence because we have this access. It's something we possess. We
have. this access, this entrance into
the Father. Now what I thought about when
I was thinking about that concept, the fact that I have an entrance
to the Father at all times through the favor of another, I thought
of a story that Brother Mahan told. He lost a son in Vietnam
in 1969. And sometime after that, if I'm
telling the story right, he and his wife Doris were sitting in
their home and someone knocked on the door whom they did not
know. And this person identified himself
like this. I was with your son Robbie in
Vietnam. And you know what they did? They opened up their home. He
had access into his home because of the favor of somebody else. This man was in some kind of
trouble. And he was granted access into this home because of his
relationship with his son, Robby. I was with your son, Robby, in
Vietnam. And he comes in. You see, we
have access because of the favor of somebody else at all times.
At all times, I'm welcomed through the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
why I have access. You see, for Christ's sake, always
has power. That's the most powerful statement,
even as God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven you. For Christ's
sake, I'm always welcome. This always has power with God. So, we have this access, this
freedom of entrance through the favor of another. Now, notice Paul says in this
verse, in whom. Here's the key. In whom we have
boldness and access with confidence by the faith of Him. In whom?
In Christ we have this access. In Christ we have this boldness. In Christ we have this confidence.
Now what this is a reference to is union with the Lord Jesus
Christ. It's in Christ that I have this
boldness. Now what does in Christ mean?
Turn back a page to Ephesians chapter 1. in whom we have boldness, in
Christ. Now look at verse 3. Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings. We've already got Him. He's already
blessed us with these in heavenly places in Christ. According as He hath chosen us
in Him. before the foundation of the
world that we should be holy and without blame before Him
in love having predestinated us under the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to Himself according to the good pleasure of His will
to the praise of the glory of His grace wherein He hath made
us accepted in the Beloved in whom we have redemption through
His blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches
of His grace. Now there's in Christ all the
blessings we have in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now what, just
what does in Christ mean? There's so many illustrations
of it in scripture, but I'm going to turn back to that familiar
one because this is the one that's most poignant and powerful to
me. Turn to Hebrews 7. I love thinking about this. Verse 9, And as I may so say,
Levi also, who receiveth tithes, paid tithes in Abraham. Now, it says Levi, who was not
yet born. He had no existence. Nobody knew
who Levi was. Levi hadn't even been born. Abraham
was his grandfather. Levi paid tithes in Abraham. Now, how did he pay tithes if
he wasn't born? He was in Abraham. And when Abraham
did it, you know who else did it? Levi did it. And that's the
way the scripture speaks. It doesn't say it's as if he
paid tithes in Abraham. It says Levi paid those tithes
in Abraham. Now, if I'm in Christ, that means
whatever he did, I did. Whoever He is, I am. Where He is, I am. That's union with the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, this is not something that
so much can be intellectually comprehended as believed. I believe
this. I'm one with Christ. I'm united
to Christ. And that's where my boldness
comes from. It's not found in me. I'm not bold because I think
I'm holy enough to come into his presence, or I'm good enough
to come into his presence, or I had a good day today, I didn't
have any wicked thoughts, I read the Bible two hours, prayed three
hours, was nice to everybody, didn't lose my temper once, I
can come into God's presence now. No, that has nothing to
do with it. This boldness is simply being in the Lord Jesus
Christ, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence by
the faith of him." Now boldness, boldness. What's that word mean,
in whom we have boldness? Well, it's also translated confidence
and plainness and openness. It first means freedom of speech.
When you're bold, you're not afraid of what people are going
to think about what you're going to say. when you're speaking boldly. You speak
boldly. You don't care about the response
of the audience. You just really believe it's
true. Therefore, you don't care what anybody thinks. You just
care what God thinks. That's what boldness is. It's to speak
without ambiguity. Paul calls it great plainness
of speech in 2 Corinthians 3.12, that same word. He says, seeing
we have such hope, we use great plainness. No mistaking of what
we're saying. We use great plainness of speech. Boldness means an absence of
fear. It's confidence. It's a cheerful
confidence. It's a holy boldness. Don't you
want to have this? I love that passage of scripture
in Acts chapter four, verse 13. It says, when they saw the boldness
of Peter and John, and they perceived that they
were unlearned and ignorant men, they took knowledge of them.
that they had been with Jesus. You see, there wasn't anything
about them that could have created this boldness. It wasn't because
they had power and wealth and a bunch of stuff behind them.
No, they were nothing more than unlearned and ignorant men. I
love that description. I like that. But they took knowledge
of them. Their boldness came from the
fact that they were with the Lord Jesus Christ. That's where
that boldness came from. Now, I want to look at several
scriptures where boldness is used. Turn to Hebrews chapter
4. Verse 16, let us therefore come boldly. That's the word. Not timidly, not in fear and
trembling, but he says, let us therefore come boldly. And that
doesn't mean presumptuously. I mean, we come with the fear
of God when we come. It's not like this is some kind
of cocky self-confidence and arrogance. That's not what that's
saying at all. But it is saying come with boldness. That's what
it says. Let us come boldly to the throne of grace that we may
obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Now, here's
what this verse of Scripture tells me. It's right to come
with boldness. I don't come with boldness because
I feel like I have some kind of something about me that makes
it to where I can come into his presence with boldness, I'm righteous,
I'm good. No, who's told to come boldly? Folks who need mercy and folks
who need grace. Let us come boldly under the
throne of grace that we may what? Obtain mercy. I need that. Oh, my soul, I need his mercy.
And I need to find grace, unmerited favor to help me in time of need. Adverse means me then. I'm somebody
that needs mercy and I need grace to help me in time of need. And God's word tells me to come
boldly with cheerful confidence to the very throne of grace to
find mercy and grace to help in time of need. Go over in Hebrews
chapter 10. Verse 16, this is the covenant
that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord. I
will put my laws into their hearts and in their minds will I write
them, and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. I would love to say that when
somebody sins against me, I forgive it. And I completely forget it. It doesn't even come up again
in my mind. That's the way it ought to be.
That's the only way forgiveness ought to be. You remember stuff, that's
bad. But you know there is one who
forgives and forgets. And there's a reason he forgets.
It's not because he has a faulty memory. It's not simply because
he's gracious and he can forgive better than us. It's because
there's nothing there to remember. The blood of Christ has so completely
removed my sins that there's no sins for him to remember against
me. They're gone. They are not. Now, let's go on
reading. Their sins and iniquities will
I remember no more. Now, where remission of these
is, There is such a thing as the
remission, the full removal of sin. Now, where remission of
these is, there's no more offering for sin. Don't you try to bring
an offering for sin. Don't you do it. It's already
been accomplished. And it's an insult to God to
try to bring an offering for sin. What are you going to try
to bring Him? What could equal the blood of Christ? Where the
remission of these is, there's no more offering for sin. Now,
verse 19, having therefore, brethren, boldness. to enter into the holiest. Now that's the holiest, the very
presence of God. That's what that's a reference
to. Having boldness to enter into the very presence of God.
How? How can I have this boldness?
Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest. How?
By the blood of Jesus. That's how I have this boldness.
By the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember whose blood
this is. This is the blood of Christ. It's Christ that died.
This is the blood that washed away sin. And I can come into
the presence of God with confidence. How? By the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Having boldness to enter into
the holiest by the blood of Jesus by a new and a living way. And that word new, you can write
this down, it means freshly slaughtered. The blood of Christ is always
just as if it was, it never gets old. It always has its power. The power of the blood of Christ
by a new and a living way, as opposed to a dead way, which
he had consecrated for us through the veil. That is to say his
flesh and having an 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." Now, how am I going to have my heart
sprinkled from an evil conscience? What's going to give me a clear
conscience? And the only way you can really have a clear conscience
is if you don't have anything to feel guilty about. Regarding any matter, I don't
care what it is, if I say, well, I've got a clear conscience about
that, not really. Not really. There are skeletons
in the closet everywhere, isn't there? What is it that gives
me a clear conscience? The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ
makes me without spot before God. And I can come boldly through
His blood with full assurance of faith. Look in Hebrews chapter 3. Verse six, but Christ as a son
over his own house, whose house are we if we hold fast the confidence,
that word confidence is a word that's generally translated boldness,
if we hold fast the boldness and the rejoicing of the hope
firm unto the end. Now I have the confidence of
this hope. I've got a hope. Now hope is
a confident expectation with reference to the future. I have
a hope that when I stand before God in judgment, God's going
to say to me, well done, thou good and faithful servant. And the reason I believe I'm
going to hear that is because Christ is, everything He did
is well done. And He is that good and faithful
servant. And I am united to Him. And if Christ hears, well done,
thou good and faithful servant, you know who else is going to
hear it? I am. Every believer. This is the heritage
of every believer. Now that's where this boldness
regarding this hope is. I have this hope. It's not presumption.
It's not pie in the sky. Christ Jesus is my hope before
God. Therefore, I have boldness. He
is my hope. My hope hidden high in the sky.
It's not some ethereal something out there. My hope is that I'm
united to Him. And as He's accepted before God
right now, as He's accepted before God, as He lives before God,
so do I. Therefore, I have this hope. Turn to 1 John chapter 2. Verse 28, And now, little children, abide
in him, that when he shall appear, talking about his second coming,
that when he shall appear, We may have confidence, and that's
the word that's generally translated boldness. It's the exact same
word, that we may have confidence or boldness and not be ashamed
before him at his coming. I remember one time when I was,
I don't know if I was in high school or, I don't remember exactly
when it was, but I was at the swimming pool, and this guy was
witnessing to this girl, and she had on a bathing suit that
was probably too skimpy. And he said, how would you like
for the Lord to come back with you wearing that thing? And she
didn't know what to say. I guess she was embarrassed. How do I want to be when the
Lord comes back? I want to be found in Christ. Paul said, oh, that I may win
Christ and be found in Him. When God comes looking for me,
there's only one way I want to be found. It ain't preaching.
It's not praying. It's not witnessing. It's not
reading the Bible. It's not doing some kind of good
work. Your flesh thinks, wouldn't it
be wonderful if when the Lord came back, I was witnessing for
the cause of Christ and maybe suffering persecution. I mean,
we think stuff like that. But what? No. Oh, that I may
win Christ and be found in Him. That's the only way I want to
be found is in the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, now, abide in
Christ. What do you do when you abide in Christ? You abide, well,
same thing as when you went into that house with the blood over
the door, where'd you stay? You stayed in the house, didn't
you? Did you go outside? Would you have gone outside that
night? Well, of course you wouldn't have. You'd have had to be an
idiot to go out. There's only one place of safety,
one place of security from the wrath of God, that's in the house.
In the house with the blood over the door. That's what it means
to abide in Christ at all times. I only want to be found in the
Lord Jesus Christ. No other way. 1 John 4. I reckon this has got to be one
of my favorite verses. Verse 17. Herein is our love made perfect
that we may have boldness, cheerful confidence in the day of judgment,
standing before God in judgment and having boldness. That's big
words, isn't it? Actually having boldness before
God when you stand before Him in judgment, not being scared,
not being afraid that your sins are going to be brought up, not
being afraid you're going to be banished. Having boldness, cheerful
confidence. Where does that come from? Herein
is our love made perfect that we may have boldness in the day
of judgment because as He is, So are we in this world. You know what that means? It
means right now. I can have boldness in the day
of judgment because as He is. You know, He's at the right hand
of the Father. I'm right there with Him. He's perfect before
the Father. I am too. He's righteous before
the Father. Me too. Can't take it too far, as he
is. This is the mystery of the gospel
right here. It's a mystery. It's something we would never
know unless God was pleased to reveal it. But this is the mystery
of the gospel, as he is. So are we in this world. 1 Timothy 3.13 speaks of great
boldness in the faith. It talks about the deacons having
great boldness in the faith. The faith is the gospel, the
gospel. And we speak of great boldness
in the faith. Well, where does that come from, great boldness
in the faith? 1 Timothy 1.15 says this, this
is a faithful saying and it's worthy of all acceptation, that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am
the chief. I can put myself in there and
I have boldness in the faith. If that's the truth, and it is,
then I have every reason to believe. This is for me. I've got great
boldness in the faith. This is the gospel. I believe
the gospel. First Thessalonians 2.2 says,
we were bold in our God to speak unto you the gospel of God with
much contention. Now think about that. You can
turn there if you want, but think about the statement. We were
bold in our God to speak unto you the gospel of God with much
contention. What that means is we believe
this message to the point. We really believe it's the message
of God. It's the only gospel to us. It's what saves us. And
we believe this message to this extent. If you don't believe
it, that's okay. I believe anyway. And I'm willing
to hold on to this message even if it causes much contention. And even if it causes much problems. And there's all kinds of folks
who are against it. That's okay. This is still the message of
the gospel. And we believe this. We were bold in our God to speak
the gospel with much contention. People argue against it. That's
okay. It's still the truth. And we're going to hold on to
it by his grace. And this is what we're to pray
for. Turn with me to Acts chapter four. I'd like you to. Turn with
me to this. Acts chapter 4. This is the church at prayer.
And this is the church at praise. Verse 24. And when they heard
that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord. This
is the church in prayer and praise. And what did they have to say?
Lord, thou art God, which has made heaven and earth and the
sea and all that in them is, who by the mouth of thy servant
David has said, why did the heathen rage and the people imagine vain
things? The kings of the earth stood
up and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and
against his Christ for the truth against thy holy child, Jesus,
whom thou has anointed. Both Herod and Pontius Pilate
with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together
for to do whatsoever. thy hand and thy counsel determined
before to be done." That's what God's people have always believed,
isn't it? Every one of them. Let's go on reading. And now,
Lord, behold their threatenings. Folks don't like this. And grant
unto thy servants that we may be delivered from the trouble
that this is going to cause. And grant unto thy servants that
with all boldness they may speak thy word. by stretching forth
thine hand to heal, and that signs and wonders might be done
by the name of thy holy child Jesus. And when they prayed,
the place was shaken, where they were assembled together, and
God answered their prayer, because they were all filled with the
Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God." How? With boldness. Now back to our text in Ephesians
chapter 3. A lot in this verse, isn't it? In whom, verse 12, Ephesians
3, 12, in the Lord Jesus Christ, we have boldness and access,
freedom of entrance through the favor of another, access with
confidence. That's access into the very presence
of God. Look in verse 18 of chapter 2.
For through him we both have access by one spirit unto the
Father, Jew and Gentile, rich and poor, bond and free. We all
have one access, the same access by the Spirit unto the Father. And we have this access with
confidence. Now, here's the clincher. We read about coming into the
very presence of God with boldness, having access with confidence.
Okay, what about when I sin? Does this verse apply to me even
when I sin? Am I still able to come into
his presence with boldness? Having this access with confidence,
what about when I sin? Here's the first way I'd answer
that question. When do you not sin? Is there ever a time when, well,
I don't sin, therefore I can come. When do you not sin? Turn to 1 John chapter 2. Verse 1. My little children, These things
write I unto you that you sin not. And I would never sin again. I don't want to sin anymore,
do you? I don't want to sin. I want to be holy. I don't want
to sin. And the gospel never gives an
excuse for sin. I don't want to sin. I want to
be just like the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is a, what's he going
to say? It's okay if you sin? No, these things right under
you for this purpose that you sin not. Go on reading. And if any man
sin, and that word, if is quite often translated in scriptures,
when? when you do. If you're sorry and cry and promise
to never do it again, you'll have an advocate with the Father.
It's not what it says. When you sin, we have an advocate
with the Father. Before the sin, during the sin,
And after the sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus
Christ, the righteous. Yes, when you sin, in whom we
have boldness and access with confidence. What do you do when
you sin? It turns you to Him, doesn't
it? Have mercy on me. I'm sorry, forgive me, cleanse
me. It turns you to Him. This verse
is for the believer at all times. In whom we have at all times
boldness and access with confidence. Now here's the last thing in
this verse. By the faith of Him. It's the faith of Him that gives
me confidence. Philippians 3. Would you turn
with me there? Philippians 3. I've already quoted
this Scripture once, but I want you to see what all it says.
Philippians 3. Verse 8. Yea, doubtless, and I count all
things but loss, for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord, for whom I've suffered the loss of all things, and do
count them but done, that I may win Christ and be found in Him,
Not having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that
which is through what? What? The faith of Christ. The righteousness which is of
God by faith. The faith of Christ. We have
boldness through the faith of Him. His faithfulness. You know, somebody had to believe
God perfectly. You know who did? He did. He trusted God, His Father, all
the way to death. This is talking about His faithfulness,
His obedience, His righteousness. This boldness we have is through
the faith of Him. Paul said, I live, yet not I,
but Christ liveth in me, and the life that I now live in the
flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and
gave Himself for me. Can my prayers and my praise
be accepted by God? Oh yes. In whom we have boldness and
access with confidence by the faith of Him. May God give us this confidence
and assurance and boldness. And if I don't have it, there's
only one reason. I'm looking here rather than
to Him. Let's pray.