Don't Throw Away Your Confidence

The writer of Hebrews, which some people believe to be Paul, was writing here explaining the difference between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. And then he encouraged the believers in Jesus Christ, because of what Jesus Christ did for us on that cross, to draw near to God with true hearts in full assurance of faith with their hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and to hold fast to the confession of their hope without wavering.

And then he encouraged them to consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but to be encouraging one another, and all the more as they saw the Day drawing near. For, “if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.” (see Hebrews 10:1-31)

Hebrews 10:32-39 ESV

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

“For, ‘Yet a little while,

    and the coming one will come and will not delay;

but my righteous one shall live by faith,

    and if he shrinks back,

my soul has no pleasure in him.’

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

So, what is the lesson to be learned here from all of this? Jesus Christ came to this earth to do the will of God, and we are to do likewise. “For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified” (verse 14). So what does that mean? It means to be made holy, which is a continual process throughout our time on earth until Jesus takes his faithful ones to be with him for eternity, which is when our salvation will be complete. And to be holy is to be different from the world because we are being conformed to the likeness of Jesus Christ, if indeed we are. 

So, we are to be those who are different from the world because we are being conformed to the likeness of Jesus Christ. We are to be those who are no longer living in sin, no longer deliberately and habitually sinning against God and other humans, but whose lives are surrendered to Jesus Christ, and who are allowing the Lord to change us to make us more like him. And we are to be those who are stirring up one another to love and good works who are also encouraging and exhorting one another daily so that none of us are hardened by the deceitfulness of sin (see also Hebrews 3:12-14).

For, “if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.”

And then there is the encouragement here, for those of us who have been walking with the Lord for a time, to recall the ways in which we have been faithful in service to our Lord, by the grace of God, but not as a matter of pride, but to remind us of how we should continue in the Lord, and how we should not lose heart, and how we should not throw away our confidence in times when we face much opposition, or when it seems, at times, that few are those who really are serious about their walks with the Lord and about growing in their walks of faith to maturity in Jesus Christ.

For if we continue in Christ, and in doing his will, it has a great reward. So we are not to let the trials of this life or any opposition or discouragements defeat us, but we are to keep on keeping on in doing what our Lord has called us to do, even when we can’t see the results for our labors. For we have need of endurance. And these low times, or these trials we are having to endure are actually for our good to teach us endurance and to move us and to motivate us to keep on doing the will of God. And so we are to be those who live by faith and not by our emotions.

And no matter what comes our way, we are not to be those who shrink back from doing the will of God and from fulfilling the purpose for why God has us on this earth. For if we shrink back from doing the will of God, God has no pleasure in us. So we are not to be those who shrink back and are destroyed, but we are to be those who have faith and who preserve our souls for eternity. So don’t give up on God, and don’t give up on his word, and don’t give up on his calling for your life, and don’t give up on living holy lives pleasing to him in obedience to him, no matter what comes your way.

My Sheep  

An Original Work / June 24, 2012  

Based off John 10:1-18 NIV

My sheep hear me. They know me.

They listen to my voice and obey.

I call them and lead them.

They know my voice, so they follow me.

They will never follow strangers.

They will run away from them.

The voice of a stranger they know not;

They do not follow him.

So, I tell you the truth that

I am the gate, so you enter in.

Whoever does enter

Will find forgiveness and will be saved.

Nonetheless whoever enters

Not by the gate; other way,

He is the thief and a robber.

Listen not, the sheep to him.

Oh, I am the Good Shepherd,

Who laid his own life down for the sheep.

I know them. They know me.

They will live with me eternally.

The thief only comes to steal and

Kill and to destroy the church.

I have come to give you life that

You may have it to the full… 

They know my voice, so they follow me.

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