Would you look at verse six again? But Christ as a son over his
own house, whose house are we? I want to be in that way. Don't
you? Whose house are we? If we hold
fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. Now I wanna be his house. I wanna be included in this we. And he gives the evidence that
we are with this evidential if. If we hold fast and don't let
go, And here's the three words that I want us to dwell on, the
confidence. You know, you or I can be as
insecure as the day is long and still have this confidence. This is not a fleshly confidence. If we hold fast to confidence
and the rejoicing, Everything can be bad, but you can still
rejoice in this. Of the hope, the hope. Firm unto the end, confidence
and rejoicing in hope. That's what I've entitled this
message, confidence and rejoicing In hope. Now let's go back up
to verse one. Wherefore, and I love the way
he addresses believers. This includes every believer
without exception. Wherefore, Holy brethren that describes every believer.
Holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling,
being called by God, consider, ponder, give thought
to the apostle and high priest of our profession, Christ Jesus. And here's how we're to consider
him. We're to consider, first of all,
his faithfulness. Who was faithful? To him that appointed him as
Moses was faithful in all his house. Now, what was he appointed
to do in his utter fidelity to do what was appointed to him
to do? What was appointed to him to
do? Well, we read in the opening chapter of the New Testament,
thou shalt call his name Jesus. For he shall save his people
from their sins. That's what God appointed him
to do. And he was faithful to do it. As also Moses was faithful in
all His house, Moses was faithful to what God appointed him to
do. We're going to talk a little
bit more about this, but look what he says in verse three for
this man, this one, we're considering Christ Jesus, the apostle and
high priest of our profession. This man, the apostle, the sent
one. the one God sent to us, the high
priest, the one who brings us to God of our profession, Christ
Jesus, this man was counted more, was counted worthy of more glory
than Moses. And it's like Moses gets 1% and
he gets 99. Didn't work that way at all. He was counted more worthy of
more glory than Moses in as much as he who hath builded the house
hath more honor than the house. Now you have a beautiful house.
Does the house that is so beautiful get any glory for its building? No, it didn't do anything. The builder built it and he gets
all of the glory. None goes to the house, all goes
to the builder of the house. Verse four, for every house is built by some
man, but he that built all things is God. Every house we see somebody
built it. It didn't just come up by chance.
Somebody planned it. Somebody executed the building
of it and finished it. They did it all. But you know
who did everything? He that built all things is God. Verse five, and Moses verily
was faithful in all his house as a servant for a testimony
of those things which were to be after spoken. Talking about
when he wrote down the law and all the Pentateuch. Now in Moses's
faithfulness, he wasn't given any creative license, was he?
He was not allowed to ad lib. He gave exactly what God told
him to do and say exactly as God said it. Look in Hebrews
chapter eight. Moses, by grace, was faithful. Verse 5, who served under the
example and shadow of heavenly things as Moses was admonished
of God. When he was about to make the
tabernacle, for see, saith he, that thou make all things according
to the pattern showed to thee in the mount. He wasn't allowed
to fill in the empty space that he thought he wasn't allowed
to ad lib. He was to make it exactly, precisely
as God told him to make it. That was his faithfulness. He
simply transcribed what God told him to say. But Christ, verse
six, as a son over his own house, not a servant, but a son. The servant abideth not forever,
but the son abideth forever. Oh, the son, not merely a servant
like Moses was, but think of the difference between Moses
and Jesus Christ. Infinite in the difference. He's
the son. Now let's go on reading, but
Christ as a son over his own house, whose house are we? If. We hold fast the confidence
and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. Now, here's the three words I
want us to consider. Confidence, rejoicing, and hope. And we're going to have to begin
with hope. Because if you don't know what the hope is talking
about confidence in that hope or rejoicing in that hope is
fruitless. So we got to begin with the hope. Paul said in Ephesians four,
there's one hope. He speaks of the confidence and
the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. Now what is hope?
Hope is a confident expectation with regard to the future. right
now. Right now, while I'm speaking
to you, I have a confident expectation with regard to the future. And
I have that confident expectation right now. That's what hope is. It's something to do with believing
something you can't see. Turn to Romans chapter 8 for
a moment. Keep your finger there in Hebrews 1 and turn to Romans
chapter 8. Verse 24, for we are saved by hope. And that's strong language. Hope is a feeling. I'm not saved
by the feeling I have in the hope I experience. I'm saved
by the object of that hope. We're saved by hope. We're saved
by the object of that hope. We're not saved apart from hope,
but look what he says about hope. But hope that is seen is not
hope. For what a man seeth, whiteth
he yet hope for. But if we hope for that which
we see not, then do we with patience wait for it. Now here is the
believer's hope. I have a hope with regard to
judgment day. When I stand before God in judgment,
and what a thing to think about, to actually stand before the
living God. I'm gonna stand before him. Here's
what my hope is. My hope is when I stand before
God, he is going to say to me, well done, thou good, and faithful
servant. Enter thou into the joy of thy
Lord. And I guarantee you somebody
right now is cringing, thinking, how could he say that to me?
Well done, thou good and faithful servant. I don't feel like anything
I've done is I've done well. How could he say that to me?
Because my hope is that I am justified by what Christ did
and everything that I have done is good, right, holy, just, and
true. That's what justification is.
I stand before God. It's better than being forgiven.
It's better than being, now being forgiven's great. No one would
discount that or diminish that in any way. Being forgiven is
great, but this is better. There's nothing to forgive me
for. I stand before God without guilt, perfectly just. That is what Christ accomplished
on Calvary's tree. He was delivered for our offenses
and raised again for our justification. Now that's my hope with regard
to the future. I have a hope that God is gonna
say, well done, thou good and faithful servant. And I have
a hope that right now, as he looks to me, He sees someone
without sin. Christ put it away. Now what
a hope! What a hope! And you know what
else I hope? I hope that everything that happens
to me between then and now, I have a hope that it's all, every bit
of it, is working together for my good and his glory. everything. There's not one thing
that's happened in my life that can be viewed independently of
Romans chapter 8 verse 28. Not one. Everything that has
taken place is working together for my good and his glory. And we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are called
according to his purpose. Now what a Hope. It's the hope of Romans 8.31.
If God be for us, who can be against us? Now, what a hope
that is. Right now, God's for me. He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not also with him
also freely give us all things? There's nothing, here's my hope,
there's nothing to prevent him from freely giving me all things
in his Son. He goes on to say, who shall
lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifieth. Who is he that can condemn? It's
Christ that died. I need no other argument. I need
no other plea. It is enough that Jesus died
and that he died for me. Now, all this hope that I have
of being just before God, I can't see it. Can you see, can you
look within your heart and say, yeah, there's no sin there. Nothing
but perfect faith. No, you can't see that. but you
believe it by faith. That's the hope that is seen
is not hope. What a man sees, he doesn't have
any reason to hope in it. So he's talking about the hope
the believer has. A believer has a hope that an
unbeliever just does not have. Now, there are a lot of people,
and I'm gonna quote this scripture from the Lord, there are a lot
of people who have an ill-grounded hope, a hope that the Savior
expressed in Matthew chapter 7 when he said, many, many, not
just a few, many shall say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, the
repetition of his name. You ought to know us, all the
good things we've done. Many shall say, Lord, Lord, have
we not preached in your name? In your name, have we not cast
out demons? And in your name, have we not
done many wonderful works? They thought they had what was
needed and they're amazed at what's going on right now. They
had no idea. And the Lord says, then shall
I say unto them, depart from me. Ye that work iniquity, all
those wonderful works that you thought were wonderful, many
and wonderful, they're nothing but works of iniquity. Depart
from me, ye that work iniquity, I never knew you. Now, he obviously
knew who they were, but he said, I've never known you as mine.
I've never known you to believe on me. I've never, I don't know
you. Now, that is frightening to think
of that, that that will in fact take place. But that being said, how wonderful
it is to have a well-grounded hope. I'm not going to hear that
on Judgment Day. Don't you love that hymn we sing,
my hope is built on nothing less. than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. On Christ the solid rock
I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. You believe that? Our hope is
Him. And the second thing I want us
to consider is the confidence of that hope. Now, the confidence
that I'm talking about is not what people would call self-confidence. It's good to have confidence
that you can do something right, and that the Lord has enabled
you to do it, but that's not what I'm talking about, or that's
not what the writer of the Hebrews is talking about when he's talking
about the confidence of that hope. I'm not talking about even
the feeling of full assurance. I'm fully assured that I'm saved. I'm fully assured that, you know,
as soon as I say something like that, I start questioning it. As soon as I say it, I know I'm
saved. As soon as I say that, what it
is I'm looking within at that time. I'm looking for some kind
of reason in myself that makes me think I'm saved. And when
I do that, I start getting shaky. So I'm not talking about that
kind of confidence. The word confidence here is the
word that is usually translated boldness. Boldness. The boldness that this
hope gives. Now, what is that all about?
The word means fearless confidence, cheerful courage, the boldness
of this hope. Now, I want to give you some
scriptures. I'm going to quote them. You can write them down
if you want. Acts chapter four, verse 13. Now, Peter and John
had been preaching the gospel. They could get in trouble. They
were getting ready to be arrested. And after they preached, we read
in Acts chapter four, verse 13, when they saw the boldness of
Peter and John, the fearless confidence, the cheerful confidence,
the courage, the assurance, the boldness, when they saw the boldness
of Peter and John, and they perceived that they were unlearned and
ignorant men. They didn't have any worldly
reason to have this boldness. There's nothing to give an account
for this. There's no explanation for this.
They're unlearned. They're ignorant. What makes
them have this boldness? Well, here's what it says. They
took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus. That gives boldness. been with Jesus. Oh, the boldness
that comes as a result of that, the fearlessness in the face
of the danger that put them in, they still had boldness because
they'd been with Jesus. 2 Corinthians 3, verse 12, Paul
says, seeing we have such hope, we use great plainness or boldness
of speech. See, we have such hope, this
hope that I've expressed, this hope that everything God requires
of me, he looks to his son for. This hope that I'm complete in
Christ and I need nothing else. This hope that all God requires
of me, I have it. There's nothing missing, there's
nothing lacking. In him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily and you are complete. Nothing lacking. You can't get
any more love. You can't get any more saved.
You can't get any more accepted. You can't get any more perfect
in God's sight than you are right now. Now, seeing we have this
kind of hope, we use great boldness, plainness of speech. I don't. have merely the minimum
God requires. I don't have the minimum requirement
to get in. I've got the maximum. Bold shall
I stand, the songwriter said. Bold shall I stand in that great
day. For who ought to my charge shall
lay. Fully absolved from these I am. From sin's tremendous curse
and shame. The only thing that keeps you
from being bold is thinking there's sin there. But if there's no
sin, what boldness we have in this hope. Ephesians 3, 12 says
in whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the
faith of him. Now, if you don't have a King
James version, it will not say by the faith of him, it'll say
by faith in him. That's why I love the King James
Version. The King James Version is a translation. The only perfectly inspired is
the original languages. I realize that. King James is
a translation, but it's the best translation. And here's an example
why. I know people argue against that,
but I don't care whether you do it or not. I still believe
it's the best translation. And particularly because it says
we're saved by the faith of him. We have boldness and access with
confidence by the faith of Him. Now here's where my boldness
is. The faith of Him. Not my faith in Him. The faith
of Him. What boldness I have if it's
the faith of Him. Access. Access into the very
presence of God. By the faith of him, boldness
by the faith of him, not boldness in myself or my faith or my ability
in any way. But this access, we have this
confidence with boldness is by the faith of him. I don't have boldness by my faith,
but the faith of him, listen to this scripture. Galatians
chapter two, verse 20. Paul said, I live, but Christ
liveth in, 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. Hebrews 4, 16, since you're in
Hebrews, go ahead and turn there and look at this one with me. Verse 14, seeing them that we have a great
high priest that's passed into the heavens. Jesus, the Son of
God, let us hold fast our profession, for we have not an high priest
which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. Now somebody says, how can he
be touched if he never sinned? He never sinned. Even when he
was made sin, he never sinned. But he experienced all the feelings
of shame and being forsaken that is involved in sin. And any feeling
of infirmity that you have, he's had it much more acutely. And
he's touched. He is moved to sympathy by the
feeling of our infirmities. What a glorious savior we have. He was at all points tempted
like as we are, yet without sin, let us therefore come, how? Boldly. Not groveling, not cringing,
but to come into His presence with boldness. How? How can I come into His
presence with boldness? Well, let me give you another
scripture too. Show you how that works. Turn to first John chapter
four. Verse 17 here in is our love
made perfect that we may have boldness. We can come boldly. Now we'll even have boldness
in the day of judgment. And here's how, because. As He
is, so are we in this world right now. As He is, He's holy, He's
beautiful, He's perfect, He's altogether lovely, He's altogether
righteous, everything He is. As He is, so are we in this world. Hence, we can come boldly. And where's we're coming boldly
to? The throne of grace. Now, if it was coming boldly
to the throne of how good I've been in and of myself, I couldn't
come with boldness, but coming to this throne of pure, free,
saving grace. We can come with boldness, cheerful
confidence, if it really is all of grace. By grace you are saved. I come with boldness, cheerful
confidence, knowing I'll be accepted in the beloved. Listen to this
scripture. Hebrews chapter 10 verse 19 says, having therefore
brethren boldness to enter into the holiest. And that's talking
about the Holy of Holies. You remember in the Old Testament,
only one person could come into the Holy of Holies. That was
the great high priest. And that was once a year, not
without blood. We have boldness right now to
enter into the very Holy of Holies through the blood of Jesus. There's
the boldness. the blood of Jesus, that new
and living way. I love the way the writer of
the Hebrews calls the blood of Jesus, the new. That means freshly
slaughtered. That means it's always poignant
and it's always real. It's not something that just
happened a long time ago. It's just as powerful. And it's
living, it's not bringing the blood of a dead animal, it's
the living Christ bringing his own precious blood, having boldness
to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. Does his blood, nothing else. You know, when we sing that hymn,
all that thrills my soul is Jesus. I love to sing that hymn because
all that thrills my soul is Jesus. He is more than life to me. And
the only way I can come with boldness is through his precious
blood. Oh, the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Boldness. And if I have any understanding
of this hope, Not only will I come with boldness, I'll come with
rejoicing. Look in our text, Hebrews chapter
3, verse 6. Now he talks about the rejoicing
of the hope. This word rejoicing, there's
two words that are used in the New Testament that are translated
rejoicing. One has more to do with feeling
of joy and happiness. And I like that. I'd like to
feel joy and happiness without any intermission. I don't, but
I'd like to. But when he's talking about this
other word, We ought to feel rejoicing all the time because
God's on the throne, shouldn't we? Should never murmur, should
never worry. God's on the throne. We ought
to feel that way. But this word rejoicing is not
the word about the feeling of joy and happiness. This is the
word boasting, boasting, glorying. Now if we know anything about
this hope, we boast in this hope. We glory in this hope. Paul put it this way in 1 Corinthians
1.30. He said, but of him are you in
Christ Jesus who of God. Now listen to the scripture.
I know you've heard it a lot. Pretend like you've never heard this
before. Of him are you in Christ Jesus. The only way you're gonna
get in Christ Jesus is for him to put you there. Somebody says,
how do you get in Christ? Well, he put you there. And if
you're in him, you'll know he put you there. And the evidence
is faith in Christ. You look to him only. Of him
are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Now here's what
I'm boasting in. The wisdom I have in Christ where
God can have fellowship with me. God can embrace me and desire
communion with me because in Christ, I have the very wisdom
of God. In Christ, I have perfect righteousness. I boast in that. I glory in that. In Christ, I have sanctification. I have holiness. I'm one of these
holy brethren. He is my holiness. He's made unto me holiness. I boast in that. I glory in that. He's made unto me redemption. I've been redeemed. And it's
accomplished. When he said it is finished,
all my sin was washed away. I stand before God without guilt. And I boast in that. I glory
in that. The one who used this word most
effectively was the Apostle Paul. But let me finish that. Of him are you in Christ Jesus,
who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption, that according as it is written, he that glorieth. There's the word. He that glorieth. He that boasts. He that has confidence
in. Let him glory in the Lord. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 12,
I'll boast in my firmities. Turn with me there. Let me give
these last two or three scriptures and I'll be brief with them. Paul said in verse six, for though
I would desire to glory, everybody's going to want to glory in something. Though I would desire to glory,
I shall not be a fool, for I will say the truth. But now, forbearalist,
any man should think of me above that which he thinketh of me,
or that which he seeth me to be, or he heareth of me. Lest
somebody think too highly of me, and lest I should be exalted
above measure through the abundance of the revelations. You know,
he said in the same chapter, God brought me into heaven. Whether
in the body, out of the body, I can't tell. God knows. I was
brought into the third heaven. And I heard unspeakable words
which were not lawful for a man to utter. And I know, I know
myself enough to know that if I was the one brought into heaven,
I'd be thinking, he picked me over you. Someone says, I wouldn't
be thinking that. Well, I'm happy for you, but
I know me enough to know the way I'd be thinking. I'd be thinking
I'm given some kind of special privilege that other people haven't
been given. Well, how is that combated? Unless I should be, verse seven,
unless I should be exalted above measure through the abundance
of the revelations there was given to me a thorn in the flesh,
the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted
above measure. Now it is pointless to try to
figure out what that thorn is. Nobody knows, but it was a thorn
in his flesh and it was very painful, very painful. You know, a thorn in the flesh
is painful, isn't it? When's the last time you got pricked
by a thorn? It hurts. And it was painful. He says in
verse eight, for this thing, I besought the Lord thrice that
it might depart from me. And he said unto me, my grace
is sufficient for thee. You're going to have to be satisfied
to be saved by sheer free grace. For my strength is made perfect
in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, will
I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may
rest upon me." Now what all that means, I don't know. But I know
he wasn't glorying in the commission of sin, but he was glorying in
his utter weakness that caused the power of Christ to rest on
him. He gloried in his infirmities.
And then in Galatians chapter six, where he said, God forbid
that I should glory. God forbid that I should have
confidence in. God forbid that I should find
as a ground of rejoicing in anything except the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ. That's all I glory in, the cross,
what Christ accomplished on the cross, the full glory of God,
the full revelation of God, the complete salvation of all this
people. Oh, the cross is the most God-like
thing God ever did, and I glory in the cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ. By whom? Not by the cross, but by whom?
You can't separate the person of Christ and the cross of Christ.
By whom? The world is crucified unto me,
and I unto the world. Now back to our text, we'll close
up with this. Hebrews chapter three. Christ as a son over his own
house, verse six, whose house are we if we hold fast and don't
let go of the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm
unto the end. You never graduate, you never
progress past glory in the cross. And if you do, you've left the
cross, you've left Christ. You never move an inch beyond
glorying in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now understand
this, perseverance isn't staying religious. You know, how many
times have you known people who got religion? And they go back
to the world and they show no interest in religion anymore. They act like utter worldlings
with no care for the things of God. And you say, well, they
didn't persevere. Well, they didn't persevere,
but they never were there in the first place. Perseverance
is continuing. If the Lord gives me another
20 years and I die when I'm 83 years old, I hope to die looking unto Jesus,
the author and the finisher of my faith, and nowhere else. Let us hold fast the confidence
and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for our
hope. The Lord Jesus Christ and the salvation that's in him.
Lord, we ask that we might be given this boldness, this confidence
in the hope. We ask that you would give us
this glorying, this rejoicing in the hope. We ask that we might
be able, by your grace, to hold it fast, firm unto the end, until
we enter glory and see our hope, the Lord Jesus Christ. In his
name we pray, amen.