Can Anything Change What You Are Confident In?

I currently reside in the foothills of Appalachia. Pick-up trucks are numerous here. Many who own and operate them become emotionally attached to one particular brand. Some go so far as to place stickers on their vehicles coarsely jesting about a competing brand: whether those other brands are able to do what they think their brand of pick-up truck will. This approach is almost certainly without merit. 

In recent years, some automakers which previously had not manufactured pick-up trucks began to. Although they made reliable cars, they have had some difficulty breaking into the pick-up market: meaning they did not sell many. The thing those new to that market must do is this: continue in their attempt to increase the performance of their manufacturing. Then, they will eventually begin to influence those who are MOTIVATED BY EXCELLENT PERFORMANCE, even if they had been motivated easily by emotion.

"For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds (emotional approaches that may cause us to reject HIS MOST EXCELLENT WAY), casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience WHEN YOUR OBEDIENCE IS FULFILLED."  

When our Lord's obedience is being fulfilled in us, all confusion and unfruitful emotion is overcome!

The Captain of Our Salvation

Hebrews 2:10,11

"For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, IN BRINGING MANY SONS TO GLORY, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings, for both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren..."

I experienced captaincy through my high school basketball days. The head coach would select those who he wanted represent the team. Those players would gather at center-court and the referees would explain the prerogative of the game and any oddities of the court. They expected THOSE PLAYERS TO BE AN EXAMPLE TO THE TEAMMATES. One older referee would even ask the captains just before tip-off IF THEIR TEAM WAS READY TO BEGIN PLAY. Truly, Jesus is the captain, and His example remains and fulfills.

The Father made the captain of our salvation, Jesus Christ, perfect through sufferings. He was able to do so because Jesus wanted nothing more than to be one with His Father, evidenced in that He said only what He heard the Father say; did only what He saw the Father do.

"Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that THROUGH death (while in flesh and blood), He might destroy him (his works of unrighteousness) who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were subject to bondage." (Hebrews 2:14,15) The Father, through Jesus Christ, destroyed Satan's stronghold of deception: the temptation to serve self by exalting self above God. Our Father, through Jesus Christ, went deeper than the mind Satan tempts. By the indwelling and increase of the Holy Spirit He saves the souls of man who will allow His sanctification. Death to self, according to the Head of all things to the church, Jesus Christ, results in the Father's understanding of exaltation.

Our Captain has demonstrated His readiness. What about His team? 

The Hope We Have! Hebrews 6:1-20

(Please read verses 1-8)

"But, beloved, we are confident of better things concerning you, yes, things that ACCOMPANY salvation, though we speak in this manner. For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister. And we desire that each one of you SHOW THE SAME DILIGENCE TO THE FULL ASSURANCE OF HOPE UNTIL THE END, that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises."

"For when God made a promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, saying, 'Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you.' And so, after He had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. For men indeed swear by the greater, and an oath for confirmation is for them an end of all dispute. Thus God, determined to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel (unchangeableness of His purpose), confirmed it by an oath, that by TWO IMMUTABLE (unchangeable) THINGS, in which it is impossble for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us. This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters THE PRESENCE BEHIND THE VEIL, where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.

"And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom..." (Matthew 27:50,51)

"And Jesus cried out with a loud voice, and breathed His last. Then the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom." (Mark 15:37,38)

"Then the sun was darkened(obscured), and the veil of the temple was torn in two. And when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, He said, 'Father, into your hands I commit My spirit.'  Having said this, He breathed His last." (Luke 23:45,46)

At the cross, Jesus Christ committed everything He had, the depth of who He was, in obedience to His Father. In that, He was blessed to sit at the Father's right hand and the Father's kingdom multiplication began. God's blessing to "us", the body of Christ, continues for multiplication, Jesus Christ being the firtsborn of many brethren. The Way for us: flee for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us; confident to trust in the Lord with all our heart, understanding what is the hope of Jesus calling, that the Father indeed raised Him from the dead!

Not Being Mixed With Faith (Part 2)

Hebrews 3:16-4:3

"For who, HAVING HEARD, rebelled?  Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt, led by Moses? Now with whom was He angry forty years?  Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness? And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who DID NOT OBEY? So we see that they could not enter in (to His rest) because of unbelief."

"Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word that they heard did not profit them, NOT BEING MIXED WITH FAITH in those who heard it. For we who have believed do enter that rest, as He said: 'So I swore in My wrath, they shall not enter My rest', although the works were finished from the foundation of the world."

Having heard, they did not obey. There is the HEARING of faith in Jesus Christ and a WORKING of that faith in Jesus Christ, to the glory of God the Father. Hearing and working makes us believers. 

"Today, if you will HEAR His voice, do not HARDEN your hearts as in the rebellion." (Hebrews 3:15)

Hardening of your heart is equivalent to saying "I will not do it". It is not that you can't understand what is said by and through the testimony of Jesus Christ  but you desire to remain confident in those things the living word is making clear are loss-worthy. (Read Philippians 3:7,8)  I think I can see how, if one remains steadfast in this "confidence", even what they have (attained through faith in God) will begin to be taken from them. If the word of God is not justifying man, it will judge man.

Job said, "I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You. THEREFORE I abhor myself (his confidence in his own righteousness had been made known to him (read Job, chapters 32-42)) and repent in dust and ashes." Repentance could be described as turning toward God (turning to obedience) based upon a revelation of Him.

Not Being Mixed With Faith

Hebrews 3:18- 4:2

"And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey?  So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief." (3:18,19)

"Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word that they heard did not profit them, not BEING MIXED WITH FAITH in those who heard it." (4:1,2)

It could be said that faith is a revelation from God to us regarding the life of Jesus Christ. Each one who enters God's salvation, through Jesus Christ, must understand that the new life they are experiencing came because of Him: His willingness to "hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end." (Hebrews 3:6).

As the word of God informs us to, we must be willing to follow Jesus. When an apostle, Peter, says "Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh (with Him, not apart from Him) HAS CEASED FROM SIN, that he no longer should live the rest of his time for the lusts of men, but for the will of God" (1 Peter 4:1,2), we must consider it the will of God, trusting the Great High Priest, Jesus Christ, to show us what that means.

So, you can see that unbelief is not the inability to do all the things Jesus shows us, but the decision not to hear, hardening your heart to these truths. 

"Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: 'Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, in the day of trial in the wilderness, where your fathers tested Me and tried Me, and saw My works forty years. Therefore, I was angry with that generation, and said, they always go astray in their heart, AND THEY HAVE NOT KNOWN MY WAYS, so I swore in My wrath, they SHALL NOT ENTER MY REST.' "(Hebrews 3:7-15)