A Worthy Confidence

CENTRAL TEXT: Hebrews 10:19-39

The Full Assurance of Faith

Heb. 10:19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, 20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

Heb. 10:26 For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. 28 Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. 29 How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” 31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

Heb. 10:32 But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, 33 sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. 34 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. 35 Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. 36 For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. 37 For,

“Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay; 
38 but my righteous one shall live by faith, 
and if he shrinks back,
my soul has no pleasure in him.”

Heb. 10:39 But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.

CALL TO WORSHIP: Psalm 138:1-2, 7-8 

LEADER: I give you thanks, O LORD, with my whole heart; 
before the gods I sing your praise;

ALL: I bow down toward your holy temple 
and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness, 
for you have exalted above all things 
your name and your word.

LEADER: Though I walk in the midst of trouble, 
you preserve my life; 
you stretch out your hand against the wrath of my enemies, 
and your right hand delivers me.

ALL: The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me; 
your steadfast love, O LORD, endures forever. 
Do not forsake the work of your hands.

PRAYER/SCRIPTURE READING/CONFESSION OF FAITH: Mark 8:31-35

LEADER: And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. 32 And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33 But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

Mark 8:34 And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.

The Word of the Lord

ALL: Thanks be to God

BENEDICTION: 1 Timothy 6:13-16

LEADER: I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, 14 to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 which he will display at the proper time—he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, 16 who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion..

DISMISSAL: Amen.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: 

ILLUSTRATIONS:  

QUOTES: 

The confidence proper to a Christian is not the confidence of one who claims possession of demonstrable and indubitable knowledge. It is the confidence of one who has heard and answered the call that comes from the God through whom and for whom all things were made: “Follow me.
- Lesslie Newbigin, Proper Confidence

I didn’t know back then that the Christian story is the story of our rebellion against God. I didn’t know that by taking part in that rebellion I had become part of the story, whether I liked it or not. I didn’t know, either, why Christians see pride as the greatest sin. I only knew that I could argue a good case for the injustice of the world made by this “God,” and the silliness of miracles, resurrections, and virgin births. I knew I was cleverer than all the people who believed this sort of rubbish, and I was happy to tell them so.
- Paul Kingsnorth

You know, more and more I think that for many years I looked at life like a case at law, a series of proofs. When you're young you prove how brave you are, or smart; then what a good lover; then, a good father; finally how wise, or powerful or what-the–hell-ever. But underlying it all, I see now, there was a presumption. That I was moving on an upward path toward some elevation, where—God knows what—I would be justified, or even condemned—a verdict anyway. I think now that my disaster really began when I looked up one day—and the bench was empty. No judge in sight. And all that remained was the endless argument with oneself—this pointless litigation of existence before an empty bench.
- Arthur Miller, “After the Fall”

Personally, I choose to believe that the white light people sometimes see, the visions this patient saw, they're all just chemical reactions that take place while the brain shuts down. You choose to believe that? There's no conclusive science. My choice has no practical relevance to my life. I choose the outcome I find more comforting. You find it more comforting to believe that this is it? I find it more comforting to believe that this [life] isn't simply a test.  
- A scene from House, M.D., “Three Stories”

A true opium of the people is a belief in nothingness after death - the huge solace of thinking that our betrayals, greed, cowardice, and murders are not going to be judged. . . .
- Czeslaw Milosz

He does not take away repentance…nor does he thrust away and cast down with despair the fallen. . . .For he did not say, no more is there repentance, or no more is there remission, but “no more” is there a “sacrifice, ” that is, there is no more a second Cross.
- John Chrysostom

Christ’s sacrifice is efficacious to the godly even to death, though they often sin; no, it retains ever its efficacy, for this very reason, because they cannot be free of sin as long as they dwell in the flesh.
- John Calvin

[Some are] accused of saying, ‘Faith is all that matters. Consequently, if you have faith, it doesn’t matter what you do. Sin away, my lad, and have a good time and Christ will see that it makes no difference in the end.’ The answer to that nonsense is that, if what you call your ‘faith’ in Christ does not involve taking the slightest notice of what He says, then it is not Faith at all—not faith or trust in Him, but only intellectual acceptance of some theory about Him.
- Lewis, C. S., Mere Christianity 

 If you are a preacher of mercy, do not preach an imaginary but the true mercy. If the mercy is true, you must therefore bear the true, not an imaginary sin. God does not save those who are only imaginary sinners. Be a sinner, and let your sins be strong, but let your trust in Christ be stronger, and rejoice in Christ who is the victor over sin, death, and the world.
- Martin Luther, “A Letter From Luther to Melanchthon,” Letter no. 99, 1 August 1521

Nobody in isolation becomes who they were designed to be. 
- Anne Lamott

A fundamental paradox at the core of human life is that we are highly social and made better in every way by being around people. And yet over and over, we have opportunities to connect that we don’t take, or even actively reject, and it is a terrible mistake.
- Nick Epley

Once you become aware that the main business that you are here for is to know God, most of life's problems fall into place of their own accord.
- J.I. Packer

because we are all 
betrayers, taking 
silver and eating 
body and blood and asking 
(guilty) is it I and hearing 
him say yes 
it would be simple for us all 
to rush out 
and hang ourselves

but if we find grace 
to cry and wait 
after the voice of morning 
has crowed in our ears 
clearly enough 
to break out hearts 
he will be there 
to ask us each again 
do you love me?
- Luci Shaw, “Judas, Peter”

BOOKS / DOCS

“Time to Rediscover Hebrews,” Sinclair Ferguson
Worthy: Living in Light of the Gospel, Sinclair Ferguson
“How a book on doubt helped my faith,” John Inazu writes of his appreciation for Lesslie Newbigin’s short book, Proper Confidence
“The Cross and the Machine,” the autobiographical conversion account of Paul Kingsnorth

SERMONS / TALKS

“Draw near and hold on,” Sinclair Ferguson
“Keeping near and Keeping on,” Alistair Begg