Hold Fast to Your Confession

Hebrews 4:14-16
14Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15For 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. 16Let 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.

This passage, if read with honesty and a willingness to let the Word do its work, will summon up images of your own life; times when you were tempted to sin and resisted – and times when you succumbed. We probably ought to read it every day for we all know what it means to be tempted. Jesus stands for all eternity as our Great High Priest because He too was tempted just as we are, but He never once failed to resist. He held strong in innocence and holiness. Because of that innocence, His final sacrifice was made from perfection. He did not become sinless through his suffering but was without sin in all his suffering.

Three of the four Gospels recount the story of Jesus being tempted by Satan immediately after His baptism. Satan offers Jesus the same sort of lies and temptations he offered to Adam and Eve, the important distinction being that Adam and Eve succumbed and Jesus did not.

Matthew 4:1-11
1Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” 4 But he answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” 5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple 6 and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, “‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and “‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’” 7 Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” 8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” 10 Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’” 11 Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.

The writer of Hebrews encourages us to hold fast to our confession. As I think about the people he was writing to, they may have been facing violent persecution for their faith. Holding fast was a true struggle and probably a genuine sacrifice. But for us, things are equally difficult, just in different ways. I think that we are also tempted to let go of our faith, but in incredibly subtle ways. Busyness and distraction drag us away from the Lord. Prosperity and freedom cause us to live like we don’t need Him. Our confession isn’t beaten out of us is, it simply slips away but the result is the same – we stand apart from God. So we need to hear these words from Hebrews with regularity, strengthening our resolve to resist the devil and his temptations, as our perfect High Priest did.

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