8.1 Absolute Confidence
© 2018 Christ Revealed Bible Institute
At this point in your journey into knowing Jesus as He is, I want to change your life; that is, I want to turn you around. Everything until now has been building to this point; everything going forward will come out from this point.
Let me explain what “turning around” means in your relationship with God. Then, in the next chapter, I hope to show you why I have turned you around.
On the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16), which represents many of the aspects of Jesus’ sacrifice for us, Aaron, the High Priest did something absolutely incredible, and he did it twice. Aaron turned around inside the Holy of Holies, having secured full redemption in order to take that redemption out to the people.
One Unbroken Sacrifice. When Aaron placed the blood upon the Mercy Seat, he KNEW that all sins were purged (for a year). When he turned around, he went back out to a people who were now free, once again, to walk with God.
This is exactly what the writer of Hebrews was demonstrating in Hebrews 10:11-14. – And indeed, every priest stands every day ministering, and repeatedly offering the same sacrifices which are never able to take away sins. This One, moreover, having offered one unbroken [bearing of all sin] sacrifice for sins, sat down in the right hand of God; from now on waiting expectantly for His enemies to be made a footstool for His feet. For by one offering, He has perfected those who are continuously being made holy [by God].
Turning Around. In order for Jesus to “sit down” upon the Mercy Seat, which is God’s throne, He must first have turned around inside of the Holy of Holies. Yet this same Jesus is also seated upon your heart, sprinkled with blood, making your heart that same Mercy Seat of God.
For you to turn around, then, inside the Holy of Holies as well, and to sit down upon the Mercy Seat of God with the Lord Jesus Christ, is to accept first and to assert second that the one unbroken sacrifice for sins is enough for you, that your redemption is complete. You are no longer “going into” God; now you rest entirely inside of Jesus inside of Father. All “going” from here on out is you and God utterly together, made one by Jesus.
The Verses of Confidence. Here are the verses of our confidence, Hebrews 3:6/14 (combined together) with 2 Corinthians 2:14 and expanded.
Christ, however, as Son over His house, whose house we are, IF INDEED, our confidence, our bold and public speaking {of Christ our life} and the exultant boasting of our hope {that we are just like Jesus – 1 John 3:1-3}, we should hold in all firmness all the way to perfection and completion. – For, we have become partakers of Christ IF INDEED the source and beginning of our assurance [our substance] we should hold firm until completion and perfection. – Moreover, grace [thanks] to God, always leading us in the triumphal procession inside of Christ, and the aroma of His knowledge being made visible through us in every place.
Part of Christ. We could say Hebrews 3:14 in this way: You are part of Christ IF you are fully confident that you are part of Christ. To be part of Christ is to be seated with Jesus upon the Mercy Seat, expecting all things to come into submission to love. Our confident faith in God is the only thing that pleases Him (Hebrews 11:6). Yet 2 Corinthians 2:14 shows this same confidence as God and you utterly together going forth as the knowledge of God in every place.
The accusation and counterargument of “Am I worthy? – Am I unworthy?” exists only in the tree of good and evil. God made you weak so that you could live ONLY inside of Jesus.
From Here on Out. I want to look a bit further at the line: the aroma of His knowledge being made visible through us in every place.
Until you turn around, you are concerned with your own redemption and salvation, and rightly so. It’s not that you could secure your own redemption, it’s that you must enter into the knowledge of what is already true. Turning around, then, means that from here on out you are concerned only with Father’s Heart, with what God desires for Himself from the beginning. And this invisible God-Love DESIRES with all His Heart to be seen and known, touched and handled, by every member and particle of His creation.
Father Desires. As we have seen, an invisible God-Love can be seen and known through one means only, through humans who believe in Jesus.
The Father, inside of Jesus inside your heart, DESIRES to be seen and known as Love through you. One thing only prevents that from happening right now, and that is the slightest thought in your own mind that you might be, somehow, “fallen short” of God.
And one thing only places you into the full and continuous flow of the aroma of His knowledge always going out from you, and that is your absolute CONFIDENCE that you ARE part of Christ upon the Mercy Seat and that Father God IS utterly together with you in and through all things.
Actions of Confidence. Let’s draw seven things, seven actions for you to “do,” out from this most incredible ruling “verse,” the verse of our confidence.
1. Know that you are fully part of Christ.
2. Speak boldly that Christ is your life.
3. Boast in being just like Jesus.
4. Hold firm to your substance against all outward appearance.
5. Stand firm through to all completion (all things now belonging to Love).
6. Celebrate God’s leading in all victory in every step.
7. Be confident that the knowledge of God flows out from you everywhere you go.
These are the actions of your knowledge of full salvation.
Giving Thanks. In the remainder of this chapter and all of the next, we will continue with what it means to live “turned around” inside of all the fullness of God. Here I want to talk about something practical and very important for your life.
You have learned in your walk with God the importance of giving thanks in and for all things. It was not an easy thing, but in your tears, in your pain and frustration, when you were betrayed and abused, in spite of all the trauma of your human emotions and because of your utter devotion to Jesus, you gave thanks. And that giving of thanks was your acknowledgement and acceptance of God in your life.
The Foundation of Confidence. According to Paul in Romans 1:21, Adam’s rebellion began with unthankfulness, specifically, his rejection of God having created him in weakness.
Every time you gave thanks, even when you did not want to, even when the thanksgiving came only after the pain had subsided, you were laying the foundation in your own heart of your present confidence in Christ. And every time you gave thanks, you were accepting, contrary to Adam, that God had made you weak for His purposes, and that all of His ways concerning you are perfect.
Let me give you the verses of your glory, this acceptance of Christ inside of you.
Your Glory. Esteem it all joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you might fall into any and all sorts of trials, knowing that the proving of your faith produces steadfastness (James 1:2-3). – But we also glory inside the pressures [within and without], knowing that pressures bring forth steadfastness, and steadfastness, proof {of Christ}, and proof, hope {that we are just like Him} (Romans 5:4). – I speak, I place to my account that, indeed, the sufferings of this present time are not worthy, have no value compared towards, the glory ready to be unveiled inside of us (Romans 8:18).
But what on earth is happening inside of you as you give thanks through great difficulties?
Christ Formed in You. Here is Paul’s cry, inside of himself, for all believers in Jesus, including you, dear reader. My children, for whom I travail in birth again, until Christ shall have been formed inside of you (Galatians 4:19).
What is happening inside of you through your practice of giving thanks in your tears is that you are becoming part of Christ in your knowing. Apart from giving thanks in and for all of your difficulty, you could not turn around inside of God, for you could not know the CONFIDENCE of Christ.
The confidence of Christ is KNOWING that God-Love directs your every step and that Father shares all things with you.