“This is the covenant that I will make with them
after those days, declares the Lord:
I will put my laws on their hearts,
and write them on their minds,”
then he adds,
“I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.”
Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.
Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
- Hebrews 10:15-22, ESV
Not all confidence is created equal. A false confidence is a world apart from a true confidence. False confidence is the chihuahua confidence he can take down the rottweiler, a confidence sometimes known as "little dog syndrome." True confidence is something very different: secure, not boastful; peaceful, not brash. True confidence is my daughter jumping off the couch at me, knowing I will catch her.
How can we have a true confidence in our salvation before the Lord? Better still, how can we have peace, knowing the confidence we have is true and not false?
Last time, we rejoiced in the truth that if we are being sanctified, it is because we have already been made perfect by Christ's sacrifice. We experience ongoing sanctification because our sanctification before God is secure and complete in Jesus. But how do we know if what we're experiencing is really sanctification and not hypocrisy, false religion, or self-deception?
Well, Hebrews 10 gives us a sure sign, something which is so strong it almost becomes a definition of what it means to experience sanctification: When God saves us, bringing us to Himself by the power of the Holy Spirit, He writes His laws on our hearts. This is the promise: "I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds."
To have God's law written on our hearts and minds means to have our consciences aligned with the word of God by the Spirit of God. In other words, we are deeply grieved over our sin, we truly desire righteousness, and we agree with the holy standard God sets in His word for defining righteousness and sin. It doesn't mean we don't sin, but it means we truly hate our sin and desire to please God in obedience. Perfectly? Agaian, no, but sincerely.
Those who have God's law written on their hearts have a true confidence before God, a holy boldness to enter the very presence of God in prayer and worship through the blood of Jesus. Notice how our confidence for access is only through Jesus. It's not a confidence grounded in our own experience of having God's law written on our hearts. Our confidence does not come from our own sincerity, even a Spirit-given sincerity, but only in and through Jesus.
Because of Jesus, and Jesus alone, we who have God's law written on our hearts, can draw near in full assurance of faith, knowing we are washed clean. We can come through our great high priest knowing we are truly redeemed, deeply loved and warmly welcomed.
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