May 22, 2024
Hebrews 10:35
Thesis: Real confidence comes only from knowing the Lord
“Confidence.” That’s a big word in our world. Having it is key to success, key to getting
what we want to get and going where we want to go in this world. If one looks at the
successful people around them, one trait that stands out is confidence.
Think of a “confident person” you know. It’s probably someone who presents a very
self-assured, “I’ve got this” attitude. They are successful in life’s endeavors largely
because they act like they will be. And that works. Successful people exude an attitude
that causes people to trust them, to rely on their skills, energy, and integrity.
But what is real confidence? I think we all know that much of what passes for
confidence in this world is no more real confidence than that what passes for success in this world is really success. So much of what passes for success is empty, shallow and fraudulent. The confidence that it comes from is often equally vain.
The great irony in so many successful, talented, “confident” people is that they really
don’t present what they are as much as how they would like to be seen. In the world
confidence is as much a matter of appearance as it is of reality. A very good illustration of what confidence looks like is in the life of Frank Abagnale. This man lived for years pretending to be many things that he wasn’t, including a hospital physician and a Pan American airline pilot. He was what used to be called a confidence man.
But what is Biblical confidence? What does Scripture tell us about the matter?
The author of Hebrews writes,
For you showed sympathy to the prisoners and accepted joyfully the seizure
of your property, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and a
lasting one. Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great
reward.
Hebrews 10:34,35
There it is. There is a confidence that we should have. But what is it? The word that is
used in Hebrews 10:35 is παρρησία. It means to speak boldly, with assurance. In contrast to the self-confident bravado that is valued in this word, based on making a good presentation of how we would like to be seen, and what we would like to be believed to be, παρρησία is unlike the world’s confidence--a confidence born of an openness, an honesty of what we actually are. It means to speak with an openness, with speech that is clear, direct, and without device. One person described it as “coming out of hiding and showing people the real person I am.” In short, the very opposite of worldly confidence.
Of course this requires actually being something that we want the world to see. I would
never want people to know the real me if the real me was what I used to be. I wanted
the real me to stay hidden. Too many flaws. Too much weakness. Too much sin. But in
Christ that changes.
In Christ I become something altogether different. I am forgiven. I am adopted. I am a
child of the King of Kings. These are things I want the world to see, the person I want
the world to meet. This confidence is a confidence in what Christ has done and Who
He is in me.
The Prophet Jeremiah wrote this,
This is what the LORD says: “Let no wise man boast of his wisdom, nor let the
mighty man boast of his might, nor a rich man boast of his riches;
but let the one who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me,
that I am the LORD who exercises mercy, justice, and righteousness
on the earth; for I delight in these things,” declares the LORD.
Jeremiah 9.23,24
So there it is. We can and should confidently boast of Who God is, of Who He is in us.
That we can be confident in. That we can boast in. That we can show people every
day, without fear.
Let’s do just that.
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