Don’t Throw Away Your Confidence

Don’t throw away your confidence, continue in the faith.  In the day we live in it may seem like we Christians are losing the battle with all the scoffers there are.  We are being bombarded on every side with lies and false accusations.  We are treated like the scum of the earth by many that are enemies of the faith, that we hold dear to our hearts.  There are pretenders that have infiltrated the church, hoping to stir up trouble and cause separation, division and devastation among the brethren. Persecution is on the rise all over the world.  Young people are leaving the church in large numbers, being contaminated by their schools with doubt by teachers that laugh, scorn and make fun of them and their faith.  We are saturated in our society with evolution and many false religions that claim to have the truth, spreading their deception and lies.  Many of us feast on watered down sermons that bring very little conviction or none at all.  

As time goes on things will continue to get worse but we must not give up and throw away our confidence, no, we must hold tightly to it.  The Christian Jews were going through some of these same things plus suffering heavy persecution and were warned about this in Hebrews 10:35-39.  Read what it says, “Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward.  For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise: ‘For yet a little while, and He who is coming will come and will not tarry.  Now the just shall live by faith; but if anyone draws back, my soul has no pleasure in him.’  But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul.”

These Christian Jews were tempted to leave Christ for Judaism defecting from the true faith that they had in Jesus.  After they had been enlightened, knew the truth and understood it thoroughly they were tempted to reject it for another religion.  The writer of Hebrews was trying to warn and encourage them to stay with the faith they lived by and were even willing to suffer for, and not to abandon it or throw away their confidence in it because, if they did they would be lost without any hope.  It says this in Hebrews 10:26-31, “For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries.  Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.  Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?  For we know Him who said, ‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord.  And again, ‘The Lord will judge His people.’  It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

Here is a quote from the footnotes in my Bible on these verses, “The ‘willful sin’ is the sin of deliberately rejecting Christ, not the inadvertent sin of a follower.  When people deliberately reject Christ’s offer of salvation, they reject God’s most precious gift.  They ignore the leading of the Holy Spirit, the one who communicates to us God’s saving love.  This warning was given to Jewish Christians who were tempted to reject Christ for Judaism, but it applies to anyone who rejects Christ for another religion, or having understood Christ’s atoning work, deliberately turns away from it. (See also Numbers 15:30-31 and Mark 3:28-30).  The point is that there is no other acceptable sacrifice for sin than the death of Christ on the cross.  If someone deliberately, intentionally, purposely rejects the sacrifice of Christ after clearly understanding the Gospel teaching about it, then there is no way for that person to be saved, for God has not provided any other name under heaven by whom we can be saved.”

I hope this will encourage anyone who is so discouraged, waiting for a long period of time on the Lord for something that hasn’t come to pass which may be a deliverance from persecution or other problems, not to give up. It says this in Hebrews 10:32, “Think back on those early days when you first learned about Christ. Remember how you remained faithful even though it meant terrible suffering.”  Think about this, you have hung on this far experiencing many difficulties and circumstances that the Lord has got you through, so don’t give up on Him now, He has not and never will give up on you.  I hope this will be a help to whoever reads this and may be in this situation, to never abandon their faith.  Have a great day and God bless you and yours.