Hebrews 10:35, Isaiah 30:15, Zechariah 4:6, Hebrews 3:6, Hebrews 4:16, Ephesians 2:3-5, Acts 4:31

Howard Drummond considers what confidence in Jesus looks like

In answering this question it should be a resounding, "Yes", because if He's not Lord of all then He is not Lord at all and we may as well say today, "We don't do God".

Today we must have confidence in Jesus Christ, otherwise we may as well close the doors. We should remain confident that the gospel message changes lives; confident that the Church has a significant and prosperous future; confident that the Bible is the infallible Word of God that has authority for our past, life today and for the future. We need to be confident in God's ability to heal bodies, restore individuals, and transform lives, communities, towns, cities and villages. There should be confidence that Jesus still saves and that the Holy Spirit empowers and commissions that which we should be undertaking. Finally we should be confident, with full trust and belief, that Christ will return one day for His bride, the Church of Jesus Christ.

What does the Bible tell us to do with confidence? Let me first tell you what the Bible says not to do with your confidence. Hebrews 10:35 says, 'So don't lose your confidence, since it holds a great reward for you'. Other versions say, 'Don't throw it away'.

In Isaiah 30:15 it talks about confidence being your strength. In Zechariah 4:6 we read about the Governor of Judah. Zerubbabel is responsible for the rebuilding of the temple. He is forbidden to trust the resource of man to accomplish the task, but to rely on the spirit of God and not brute force.

We must have confidence to rely on the Holy Spirit to build God's Church; to rely on the message of the gospel that brings people to salvation, which brings them into truth. We are not to throw it away by using our own strength. If we throw it away, or if we lose it, then the church becomes weak and relies on man's resources to get the task at hand accomplished.

Read Hebrews 3:6, 'But Christ is faithful as the Son over God's house. And we are his house, if indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory'.

My question to you is, what is it that you are holding on to?

If we're not holding firmly to our confidence and hope in Christ, then we're holding on to something else that may drag us down. I believe that if we're not holding firmly to Christ, then we must let go of some things in order to hold on to Him.

The second thing we must do is found in Hebrews 4:16, 'Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need'.

The reward received is two-fold. We receive grace and we receive mercy.

What is meant by grace and mercy?

A good way to understand the meaning of mercy is to see how it relates to grace. Mercy is not getting what you do deserve - withheld punishment and grace is getting what you don't deserve - unmerited favour.

Ephesians 2:3-5 says, 'Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions it is by grace you have been saved'.

Mercy is like a judge finding you guilty, but then withholding any punishment. Grace is getting something you could never have imagined; an inexplicable gift. It's like the same judge awarding you £10,000,000 even after finding you guilty!