"THE HOLIEST OF ALL" part XXI

IF WE HOLD FAST OUR BOLDNESS FIRM TO THE END.
Hebrews 3: 6. Whose house we are, if we hold fast our boldness and the glorying of our hope firm to the end.

The conclusion of  
THIRD SECTION
Hebrews 3:1-6.
Christ Jesus more than Moses,


BY THE REV. ANDREW MURRAY

Among the Hebrews there were not a few who had gone back and were in danger of falling away. They had given way to sloth, and had lost the joy and confidence of their first faith. The writer is about ( 3: 7~ 4: 13.) to sound a note of solemn warning, to call them to beware of that evil heart of unbelief, which departs from the Living God. As the transition he writes, making the words as it were the text for what follows, Whose House we are, "IF" we hold fast our boldness, and the glorying of our hope firm to the end.

Holding fast firm to the end. Steadfastness, perseverance this is indeed the great need of the Christian life. There is no question that exercises the earnest minister of the Gospel in our days, as in early times, more deeply than what may be the reason that so many converts grow cold and fall away, and what can be done that we may have Christians who can stand and conquer. How often does it not happen, both after times of revival and special effort, and also in the ordinary work of the Church, that those who for a time ran well, got so entangled in the business or the pleasure of life, the literature, or the politics, or the friendships of the world, that all the life and the power of their profession or confession is lost. They lack steadfastness; they miss the crowning Grace of perseverance.

The words of our text teach us what the cause of backsliding is, and whence the want of power to stand comes, even in those who strive after it. They show us at the same time what the secret is of restoration, as well as of strength to endure unto the end. Whose house we are, he says, "If" we hold fast our boldness and the glorying of our hope firm to the end. Or, as it is expressed a few verses further on (verse 14) "If" we hold fast the beginning of our confidence firm unto the end. A boldness and confidence that make us abound in hope, that make us glory in hope of the Glory of God, and glory in tribulation too, this it is that makes us strong to resist and overcome. Nothing can make us conquerors but the bold and joyful spirit that day by day glories in the hope of what God will do.

It is in this that so many fail. When first they found Peace they learn that they were saved by faith. They understood that pardon and acceptance and Peace and Life all come by faith alone. But they did not understand that we can only stand by faith; that we must always walk by faith; that ever and increasingly we must Live by faith; and that every day and every hour nothing can help us but a clear, definite, habitual faith in God's power and working, as the only possibility of growth and progress. They sought to hold fast the Light and Blessing and the Joy they had found; they knew not that it was their boldness of faith, the glorying of their hope, the beginning of their confidence,--- that this it was they needed to held fast, firm to the end. And even when they learned something of the need of faith and hope, they did not know how indispensable the Boldness of faith and the Glorying of hope were. No one can conquer without the Spirit of a conqueror. The powers of sin and Satan, of the world and the flesh, are so great, only he who is Bold and Glories in his hope upon what God will do will have strength to resist them. And he only can be Bold to face the enemy who has learned to be Bold with God, and to glory in Him. It is when faith becomes a joy, and hope is a glorying in God, that we can be more than conquerors.

The lesson is one of the most important the Christian has to learn. We shall see later on how our whole Epistle has been written to teach us that Boldness is the only root of steadfastness and perseverance, and therefore the true strength of the Christian life; and how, too, its one object is to show what abundant ground for the boldness we have in the work and person and glory of our Lord Jesus.

Whose House we are, if we hold fast our Boldness and the Glorying of our hope firm to the end. Would you know the blessedness of all it means, Whose House we are, Christ as a Son is faithful in His House, see here the open gate. In spite of all the enemies that surround you, yield your self boldly to Jesus Christ as His your heart a home for Him to dwell in. Glory in the hope of all that He has promised to perfect in you. Hold fast the beginning of your confidence firm to the end. Was not that beginning this, that you confessed yourself to be nothing, and Christ to be all? Did you not just cast yourself on His mighty saving power? Hold fast this beginning with the greatest confidence. He will each moment guard and keep His House, and maintain His work within it. Claim boldly and expect confidently that Christ the Son will be faithful over His House as Moses the servant was over his. And when the difficulty arises: But how always to maintain this Boldness and Glorying of hope, just remember the answer the Epistle gives, Consider Jesus, who was faithful. Yes, just consider Jesus! How faithful, even unto death, He was to God in all that He had given Him to do for us. Let that be to us the assurance that He, who is still the same Lord, will be no less faithful in all the blessed work He can now do in us, "IF" we hold fast our Boldness and the Glorying of our hope firm to the end.

1. Faith Is the mother of Hope. How often a daughter can be a help and a strength to her mother. So, as our hope reaches out to the future and Glories In It, our faith will grow into the Boldness that can conquer all.
2. Hold fast together what this passage has joined: the faithfulness of Jesus and the Boldness or Confidence of our faith. His faithfulness Is our security.
3. The Glorying of our hope. Joy is not a luxury or a mere accessory In the Christian life. It Is the sign that we are really Living In God's wonderful Love, and that that Love satisfies us. "The God of hope fill you with all joy In believing, that you may abound In hope through the Power of the Holy Ghost."
4. Christ is faithful as a Son over His House: how confidently I may Trust Him to keep charge and rule in it.