Introduction

Good morning and welcome back to the book of Hebrews. Please turn with me if you would to the book of Hebrews, Chapter four and verse fourteen. We are only going to be covering three verses this morning but there is quite a bit packed into just these three verses. We are returning again to a theme that the author introduced a bit previously but is now going to spend the better part of five chapters fully fleshing this out. That is the theme of Jesus as the greater, or perhaps it’s better to say, “the great” high priest. The author is going to begin here to fully unpack the truth and really the comfort that Christ’s priesthood is far superior to that of the levitical priesthood. In fact, as we will see in the weeks to come, Christ’s priesthood is of a different and higher order altogether. Jesus is not just another or even the greatest levitical priest, he is the great high priest after the order of Melchizedek.

When we were going through Genesis, we skipped over the section on Melchizedek, as it is a rather short section, but in the coming weeks we will return to Genesis a bit as we tie up all these loose threads surrounding the high priestly ministry of Christ. Most of that though will be saved for another week.

As I began preparing for this week, I made a huge pivot through the week on what I felt should be the emphasis for us this morning. Call it a holy spirit redirect or perhaps it was a lack of preparation that caused me to shift mid stream but in any event, what I have for us this morning is not what I intended. I pray that the word for us this morning is given from a place of submission to the authority of the text and to the spirit who guides us through his Word. So help me Lord, I pray this is what our God has for you this morning.

We are going to consider what is means to hold fast our confession, as our text tells us. Why do we hold our confession, what is the confession that we hold, and what are the benefits of holding that confession? Those are some of the questions I hope our text answers for us this morning. As always, I hope you leave encouraged and confident in our Lord and in his gospel, ready to stand firm in the calling that he has for you. That is certainly my prayer this morning.

​Hebrews 4:14–16ESV

Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

‌Holding Fast Our Confession

I can think of many stories that illustrate our theme this morning but I really don’t want to get into the weeds of secular inspiration stories to make my point despite that fact that I do think there would be some merit there. Instead I will say this and you can take it wherever you wish in your processing of this sermon. Nothing beats a well thought out plan. If you endeavor to some end or some goal and to get to that end you lay down a solid plan that you trust will work then when adversity or setback comes you have something which you can reassure yourself and your team with. “Guys we have a plan, we trust that it will take us where we want to go, let us hold to that plan.” Yes, the analogy breaks down a little because all human plans require some degree of adapting, I get that, but the principle holds.

When we arrive at our text this morning what we have given to us a similar concept but a much more stable one. God has made a plan of salvation for his people and written this plan of redemption down for us in his word. Even more he has certified the effectiveness and power of this plan by sending Christ the great high priest through the heavens. That is God himself has come down into this plan that he has laid out to secure the outcome. Our confession then certainly is a confession about the character and nature of God but I think the word is communicating to us something much more.

Remember why this letter was written. These Jewish Christians are being tempted to turn back to another plan of salvation. Perhaps the religious self-justification was better after all. Our messiah is not here anymore, we are being persecuted, life is a bear, maybe this plan isn’t right?. This confession that we are to hold fast to is a confession about the triune God but it is also about the realities of God’s redemptive plan that will anchor us amid the setbacks and the struggle. I hope you see that this morning. This confession that we hold is not just information but it is a confession of the God devised plan that will bring us home to him.

In this case no adaption is needed but his plan is perfect, it is established, it is proven, it will lead us home. So be more specific you may ask, what am I confessing and holding to? Well, we might just say it’s just the gospel, right? Christ came to Earth, God in flesh, to live the perfect life that we should have lived so that he would be a righteous substitute to pay our sin debt to a holy God. In his suffering and death he bore the wrath of God and the punishment of sin and in his resurrection he proved his righteous work complete and by faith is now applying to the sinner his righteous justification in exchange for the sin and guilt of ours he bore on the cross. Amen and Amen for that good news.

Scripture gives us even more than that for our comfort and perseverance though doesn’t it. This letter so far has given us truth about the supremacy of Christ over Moses and the Law, and truth about the supremacy of Christ over angels, just to name a few. We are going through the book of Romans in bible study, a book chocked full of rich truths about the sustaining power of Christ and the inseparable nature of his love. Surely all those truths contain within them some value for us to ascertain and cling to. They must, for it is this reason that Paul tells Titus, his true child in a common faith,

​Titus 2:1ESV

But as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine.

‌Holding to Christ’s Preserving Grace

Are such confessions of any value, is sound doctrine of any value for you dear Christian? How often have you gone through a season of life when you have fallen into sin or just been stale and dry when it comes to our Lord? How often have you been burdened with this notion that keeping your faith is too much? How often have you felt weak and worthless and assured that there is no way you will finish the race.

​John 10:28ESV

I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.

​Philippians 1:6ESV

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

Hear our Baptist confession concerning these truths.

“Those whom God has accepted in the beloved, effectually called and sanctified by his Spirit, and given the precious faith of his elect unto, can neither totally nor finally fall from the state of grace, but shall certainly persevere therein to the end, and be eternally saved.”

“and though many storms and floods arise and beat against them, yet they shall never be able to take them off that foundation and rock which by faith they are fastened upon.”

“and they shall be sure to be kept by the power of God unto salvation, where they shall enjoy their purchased possession, they being engraved upon the palm of his hands, and their names having been written in the book of life from all eternity.”

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​Malachi 3:6ESV

“For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.

Surely when we doubt we might cling to those confessions and find comfort in his preserving grace.

‌Holding to God’s Sovereign Decree

How often have you been troubled by the assurance of your salvation? Did you do it right? Have you done it right? Did you pray correctly? Did I really mean it because I think I did but you know I am not sure. I mean I think I was sincere, but was I? How can I know? Maybe if I just did a bunch of those religious things I would get some more assurance?

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​2 Thessalonians 2:13ESV

But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth.

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​Ephesians 1:4–6ESV

even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.

Again, our Baptist confession. “As God hath appointed the elect unto glory, so He hath, by the eternal and most free purpose of His will, foreordained all the means thereunto; 13 wherefore they who are elected, being fallen in Adam, are redeemed by Christ, 14 are effectually called unto faith in Christ, by His Spirit working in due season, are justified, adopted, sanctified, 15 and kept by His power through faith unto salvation.”

What comfort is there Christian to continually cling to Christ alone because it is he who has known you at your worst and your weakest, known you in all your sin and called you and loved you way before you got it all figured out. You weren’t ever really sincere, you didn’t ever really do it right but to the praise of his name he was sincere, he got it right. Can there be a better deterrent to falling back to empty religion than the confession that our God chose you despite your religion.

Surely when we stand unassured, we can find comfort in the confession of his sovereign decree.

‌Holding to Our Sinful Beginning

How often do we, perhaps in times of plenty, puff ourselves in self-confidence. We read our bibles everyday for a week and we assume we have arrived at some level of super Christendom. You get that promotion or that raise, someone compliments your new sport coat, and you have a great conversation with your kids and you think, “Man, that sign on my desk is true, I really am the best dad ever.”

​Psalm 51:5ESV

Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.

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​Ephesians 2:3ESV

among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

Again our confession with reference to our first parents. “They being the root, and by God’s appointment, standing in the room and stead of all mankind, the guilt of the sin was imputed, and corrupted nature conveyed, to all their posterity descending from them by ordinary generation, 6 being now conceived in sin, 7 and by nature children of wrath, 8 the servants of sin, the subjects of death, 9 and all other miseries, spiritual, temporal, and eternal, unless the Lord Jesus set them free.”

What better remedy for a heart of pride than the confession that we are servants of sin, subjects of deaths and all other miseries and any good we find, success we gain, or salvation we receive is only because the Lord Jesus has set us free.

Surely when we find ourselves puffed up with pride we may return again to humility in holding fast the confession of our sinful beginning.

That was a really long way of saying that God in his grace has woven his gospel into all these doctrinal truths and they really do mean something for us. It’s about quibbling over heady theological truths so that I can prove that my doctrine is better than yours. If that’s the end game of confessions then perhaps I would join the “no creed but Christ” crowd but I hope I have shown you that there is much more to it than that. Church, I pray that we hold to these confessions because in them I pray we hold fast to Christ.

If I could just say to you, cling to Christ and that was the end of it then fine but it’s never that easy. Who is Christ? How do I cling? Why I am clinging? To what am I clinging? Can I let Go? What happens if I do? These are questions I have to answer. The world, the lost, the wanderer, to broken, and the struggling demand these answers and by the grace of God we have the answers to give if we would be so bold as to give them, to hold fast to them.

‌High Priestly Sympathy

The second thing that I want us to draw from the text is this. There is further comfort, assurance, and sound guidance in the truth that the one in whom we confess and the one about whom we believe all these things to be true is someone who can truly sympathize with us. Our Lord knows what it is like to be hungry and hurting and to be tempted to relieve those pains by some disobedience means. He knows what it is like to tempted to test the faithfulness of God. He knows what it is like to tempted with worldly riches in exchange for worshipping another God. His whole life, however brief it was, was near constant temptation to do anything and everything other than the perfect will of God and every time, he fought such temptations and continued without sin by returning again to the truths and the commands of the word.

He confesses not just any words, as I am sure he and the father had many words together during his life on earth but rather he confesses “these” words. These very words given to us, that we have here in front of us are the words Christ himself used to fight his temptations. This of course reaffirms our previous point that we are to hold fast our confession, but it also shows us the degree to which he was tempted that his only defense was to confess the holy words of God.

So often we misapply the high priestly sympathy of Christ. We consider the reality that he really did stand in our place and face the struggles and temptations that we face everyday and when we are hit with something we might look down at a cheap bracelet on our wrist and say, “WWJD?” What would Jesus do? Great, we are understanding and applying Christ having the means to sympathize with our situation. The problem is that upon asking the question, far too often we then do everything but what Jesus actually did. We don’t confess the truths of God words and hold fast to them, nor do we maintain steadfast obedience to the commands of God. Whatever you think Jesus might do in any given situation should always be secondary to what he did do. He held fast to the word of God and obeyed what it commanded. That is the high priestly sympathy of Christ applied.

‌Benefits of Holding Fast

So with all of that in mind let us finally look at what our text gives as the three benefits of holding fast to our confession. If we understand the sympathy that Christ has for us and hold fast to these truths and commands given to us, what are the results of such things? Again, our text gives us three.

‌Confidence to Draw Near

First, we have confidence to draw near to the throne. Going back to those truths we have already confessed that are grounded in the gospel. When we confess our sinfulness in humility before him, that we were subjects of death but by grace of God according to his will alone he has set us free from our slavery to sin and transferred us to new life in him. Because he did so according to his will, by that same will surely he will never let us go. When we hold to those truths, then we can draw near to him with confidence knowing that we are and will always be his. Knowing that this present life is the only thing that is separating us from eternal glory and that veil will be passed through in an instant and we will behold the glory of our savior in pure joy for all eternity. Hold fast your confession and draw near to the throne of grace.

‌Receive Mercy

Secondly, we receive mercy. When we confess and believe these truths about the triune God we necessarily receive his compassion and his forgiveness. Our God is a tender and loving God towards his children and when we hold fast to him and draw near to him he will not turn us away nor will he be cold or indifferent towards us. Like a good father who would never give his son a stone when he asks for bread, or a serpent when he asks for a fish, no our father in heaven will give us good things when we ask him. What are the good things we need from him? We need his mercy, that is his compassion and forgiveness and we need his grace.

‌Grace to Help

That is the third and final benefit our text gives us to holding fast our confession and in that confidence drawing near to him, we find grace to help in time of need.

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​1 Corinthians 10:13ESV

No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

God is faithful brothers and sisters and when we are tempted, through the clinging to his precious truths and the drawing near to him in confidence, he assures us that we will be given grace to help. You can and you will persevere to the end by his grace and in his mercy and to his glory because he is faithful. Because he is so good and so faithful, he truly does give us a great many benefits to holding fast our confession.

‌Conclusion

As I close I need to make something clear that perhaps you questioned during our time this morning. I do not believe that to receive salvation one needs to perfectly or even adequately hold fast our particular confession. Nor do I believe that one must confess full acceptance of and cling to the London baptist confession or any other confession in order to inherit eternal life. Nor do I believe that a total understanding of and submission to the reformed doctrines of grace or any other secondary doctrines are a prerequisite to salvation.

What I am saying though is that in his grace, our God does thoroughly explain himself, his character, and his will and such things are a great benefit to us. These confessional truths offer us great clarity, sincere comfort, defense against pride and other sin, and they give us an anchor in an otherwise overly contextualized world. Can one still inherit life if they never took one whiff of doctrine? Sure, and thanks be to God for that but when one confesses Christ and seeks forgiveness from their sins in him, whether they ever intend to or ever verbalize it they are making confessions and establishing creeds.

Who is this Christ that you are confessing? What is the forgiveness that he offers? What are you being saved from? Why do you even need to be saved? What even is sin? What am I being saved to? You see how such doctrinal confessions are unavoidable and it is for this reason that Paul tells Titus teach what accords with sound doctrine. The attitude of just give me Jesus and love and I’ll be fine neglects so many great things God has revealed to us and neglects a great deal of comfort, confidence, mercy and grace that he does lovingly give us in these doctrines.

So we teach and we hold fast, to the best of our ability, all the truth that God has given to us in scripture and in humility we submit to and obey all that he reveals and commands. I am convinced that this was the intent of the author of Hebrews when he tells us to hold fast our confession. Temptation and trial is going to come Christians, but by the grace of God according to his will we will persevere. There is no other way to persevere than by the sustaining grace of Christ who is above all things, and by whom and for whom are all things. So let us hold fast to our confession, church. Amen.