"Confidence in Jesus"

 Confidence is another word for faith. If you have faith, then you are confident. (1Jn.5:14-15) If you are not confident that you are truly saved, it’s because you don’t have faith that you are saved. Therefore, you need to seriously deal with that because nothing is more important than being saved and we can only be saved by faith.

I. Confidence in Ourselves.

Confidence can be misplaced; it can be in the wrong thing or person. We are not to have “self-confidence.” That is confidence in yourself. I know that runs against the grain of everything you hear in the world, especially in the sports world. We are not to have confidence in others, in our faith, in our own ability or in anything you can see or hear.

Peter had confidence in himself. “I will never deny You. Not me! Everyone else may, but not me. Not ever!” That is self-confidence in the raw. But Peter ended up doing just as Jesus predicted, he denied Jesus three times before the sun came up. He didn’t believe he would do that, but he did. He didn’t believe he would do that because he had confidence (faith) in himself.

We cannot ever have confidence in anyone else! “The arm of flesh will fail you.”  You might say, “How can we ever have a relationship with anyone we can’t trust?” Relationships are built on trust, true; but it doesn’t have to be trust in the other person. Our confidence must be in the Lord. Trust is crucial to any relationship, especially between parents and spouses.

When my oldest daughter reached her teens, she figured out that I didn’t trust her when it came to boys or curfews. I made a big deal of that. I gathered the other three daughters and sat all four on the couch and told them April said I didn’t trust her. “I want to make it very clear. I don’t trust any of you. Why? Because I have been your age and I know what kids do. I love you but I don’t trust you. I will check up on you whomever you are with and wherever you go. Know that.”

II. Confidence in the Lord.

I have counseled many married couples when one of them had broken the trust of the other. He or she thinks it is all over. But it’s not. I share with them this verse that has changed many marriages and relationships. Paul wrote concerning the church, “I have confidence in the Lord concerning you.” (2Thes.3:4) Can you have confidence in the Lord concerning that other person? You’re not trusting him, you’re trusting the Lord for him. This gives the relationship hope and allows it to continue and you to sleep at night.

John 13:38 is followed by Jn.14:1-6. John had no chapter break here. In John 14:1-3 Jesus tells us who to put your confidence in. Remember, confidence is synonymous with faith and believing. “Do not let your heart be troubled.” Even though you can have no confidence in yourselves, there is someone you can have complete confidence in. The Lord. Imagine their troubled hearts when Jesus began to tell them He was leaving them and where He was going they could not come. He had been their constant companion for over three years. He had healed their sicknesses, provided everything they needed, and stilled their storms. And now He was leaving? This must have been like a punch in their gut. Their hearts must have been very troubled. Jesus was about to give them some good news – He could be trusted. He urged them to put their confidence in Him.

 “I will no longer be where you are, but you will come to where I am.” At the time they didn’t know where He was going or the way to get there, but He would shortly tell them. They would have to trust Him, and they had seen that He was someone they could trust. They could have confidence in Him even when He was no longer with them but in heaven.

“You believe in God.” Belief in God can be had by “natural revelation.” Noone needs special revelation by the Holy Spirit to believe in God. It’s obvious and manifest. The heavens declare the glory of God. That’s what Romans chapter one teaches us. People have no excuse for their unbelief in a God who can be seen in the natural creation. Everything in nature shots, “There is a Creator. There is a Designer!”

But natural revelation is not enough to know who this Creator really is. That takes a supernatural revelation by the Spirit of God concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. “Believe also in Me.” We can’t know who God is with just that natural revelation we get through our physical senses. Agnostics and Deists have always had a problem with special revelation, Benjamin Franklin being a prime example. Special revelation says this Creator has made Himself known by His Spirit in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is that special revelation, telling us exactly who God is, even giving us His name. In His person, His word, and works He has revealed Himself.

“My Father’s house” can mean either or both of two things. Some interpret it to mean just the place we call heaven, usually whatever they imagine heaven to be. It’s up there somewhere, where God lives. But technically the Father’s House is the church of Christ. First Timothy 3:15 states exactly that. If you examine further in the book of Revelation you will discover it’s the New Jerusalem, which is called the “bride of Christ,” which in Paul’s inspired epistles he identifies as the church (2Cor.11:2; Eph.5:25-27, 31-32, and in Revelation 21:2-3 and 9-10).

Add to that the fact that Jesus does not say here in this passage that He is coming back to earth like is described in Revelation. He says, “I will come again to receive you unto Myself, that where I am there (in heaven) you will be also.” This is why the Rapture of the church has always been a part of the teaching of the Second Coming of Christ. Part one is He comes in the air and the church is “caught up in the air to be with the Lord.” (1Thes.4:17) Then in Revelation 19:11 – 20:1-6 we have the literal coming back to earth with the armies of heaven, which includes us, to set up His millennial kingdom on the earth.

Jesus tells the disciples, the foundation of the church (Christ being the Chief Cornerstone), that He is not coming back to earth to set up His kingdom, but He is coming back to take them to where He is in heaven, to His Father’s house. The “many rooms” are our place in the Body and Bride of Christ, and as living stones in His Building. Famed musician, Keith Green, once said, “If it only took the Lord six days to build the entire universe and He’s been working on the New Jerusalem for 2,000 years; man this place down here is a garbage dump compared to what’s going on up there!”

So, where is your confidence? Put your confidence for this life and eternal life in the Lord. He will be with you until He takes you to be with Him.

If your heart is troubled, put your faith and confidence in the Comforter, the Lord Jesus Christ. If your heart is broken, He can mend it. He can be your peace in the midst of your storm, your healer, the joy of your heart that passes all understanding, the provider you need to supply all you need. Do not underestimate His power and willingness to mend your troubled or broken heart. He loves you so much. How do I know? Because He died for your sins and rose to give you victory over any trouble you might find yourself in or that might be in you. So place your confidence in Christ. The sooner the better. 

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