Audio： Confidence — Hans R. Waldvogel

Confidence in God Rather Than Self

Cast not away therefore your confidence. Confidence. Can you have confidence in anything at all today? Everybody lies. All men are liars. You might as well put it down in your notebook. All men are liars, but there's one that's not a liar.

There's one in whom you can safely confide and you're commanded to have confidence in God. The Bible says, cast not away therefore your confidence, which have great recompense of reward. But now my God, who are you going to reward?

Whom are you going to honor like that? Who do you want to have confidence in? You? Me? Poor, weak mortal. Poor, weak thing that cannot have confidence in himself. Well, that's our trouble and that's our sin.

We try to have confidence in the things of earth, in ourselves. We fish around for some place to lean upon and everything gives way. Everything gives way. Our self-righteousnesses are as filthy rags.

Don't have any confidence in them. The Bible says, he that trusteth in his own heart is a fool. Let's quit it and let us put our confidence where it is absolutely safe and where it's absolutely honored.

Hezekiah's Confidence During Sennacherib's Invasion

Cast not away therefore your confidence. And where do I place my confidence? You remember in Old Testament times when Sinatrip, that wicked king of Syria, went like a burning torch of fire through the land, burning up all the cities of Judah.

They were all smoking ruins. And then he came to Jerusalem. Very interesting to me in the Museum of Natural History in Cairo to see the boastfulness of Sinatrip. The original letter that he wrote to his own name.

It was printed and engraven upon metal. Large, great big letter. And there he boasted of his prowess and of his victories just like you read in the Bible. Wonderful how the Bible is confirmed by these archaeological finds.

There was one and I saw it with my own eyes and I was very glad and very happy to see it. Because here was Sinatrip and he had come within very short distance of Jerusalem, a city called Lachish. And from there he sent word to Hezekiah, the king of whom we read that he had confidence in God.

He had confidence in God. The Bible gives him that name. And I tell you that man stands out as a living example of the faithfulness of God. The Bible says that before him and after him there was none that trusted in the Lord like Hezekiah.

And when did he trust the Lord? When all natural hope was gone. Everything was taken away. And Sinatrip had won the victory over all the cities of Judah and had sent them up in smoke. And now he sent word to Hezekiah and he said, where is your confidence?

Sennacherib's Challenge to Faith

That's an interesting word. Who do you confide in? What makes you so fresh? He says, listen, I'll give you two thousand horses if you can set soldiers upon them. In other words, I haven't got an army enough to fight me and here I have won all these victories.

Now where is your confidence? And then he said another word, don't let God fool you. Don't you let the Lord tell you that he'll defend you and he'll deliver you. Don't let God fool you. Did anybody ever say that to you?

Yes, they say that every day. Not only the devil, but Pentecostal saints will come around. Say, you better get some aspirin tablets. You better go and see the doctor. You don't be a fool now. One said, well, you can't fool with this thing.

You've got to have a doctor. You've got to have the help of man. Did they ever say to you, don't let God fool you? They say that all the time. And when the son of man cometh, shall he find faith upon this earth?

No. Men don't pray like that. They don't pray in faith. They don't lift up holy hands. In the first place, they have no holy hands to lift up. They've got a great big mouth to blaspheme God with, but to lift up holy hands, to strengthen the knees that are weak, and lift up the hands that hang down.

Beloved, shall he find faith upon this earth? That's for you and me to decide. Cast not away therefore your confidence. It hath great recompense of reward. It's the confidence of God's saints who do not trust in their own selves that will defeat the devil and put him back into the pit where he belongs.

Hezekiah Brings the Threat Before God

And that's what Hezekiah did. Now in whom do you confide? Come on, let's hear. You confide in the king of Egypt? He'll fool you. Or do you confide in some other associate? They'll all fool you. Says, why?

Why? And then he's got the brass to say, God sent me to defeat Jerusalem and take Jerusalem. And that's what they'll tell you too. Beloved, the devil is very subtle. That serpent that beguiled Eve in the garden is still the serpent and is still trying to deceive God's people.

And oh, what a victory. Look round about you. I've said to God some time ago when I was in a trial, a thousand fall at my side, ten thousand at my right hand. How do I expect to escape? It shall not comply me.

Cast not away your confidence. Hezekiah went to God. He spread the letter out before the Lord. He said, it's true. Everything he says is true about these other cities because their gods were no gods. They did not have their confidence in Almighty God.

But my God, look upon us. Our eyes are upon you because we don't know what to do and what did God say? Don't you fear Him. He won't shoot a single arrow at this city. I'll defend the city for my name's sake, in my name, in my name.

And you know what happened when they got up in the morning. They were all dead corpses. Of course, the corpse always dead, but these were dead. Round about Jerusalem, 185 ,000, go and count them. All these boastful soldiers, they were all slain by the angel of the Lord.

God's Victory and the Vindication of His Name

God Almighty was true to His word, but Hezekiah had to stand firm. He had to go through that trial. He had to allow Sennacherib to blaspheme Jehovah, and he had to stand to the very last inch of his endurance and his confidence.

But because he stuck it out, God was honored. The whole world had to take notice of the victory that God gave to Hezekiah so that the very ambassadors of Babylon came to inquire of the wonder that was done in Jerusalem.

Something unheard of. And what was it? Was it a victory for Hezekiah? Yes, but way above all that, it was a victory for the kingdom of God. That's what God's after in you and in me. And that's why He says, great is your reward.

Cast not away your confidence. And if Hezekiah's confidence was in Jehovah, why was it? I tell you why. Hezekiah was a lucky man, like Rip Van Vinkle, but more lucky still. He had a wonderful prophet at his side by the name of Isaiah.

Isaiah's Prophetic Ministry and the Word of God

He had a man at his side in whose mouth the word of God was fire. And that man of God prayed with him, and that man of God spoke to him the words of comfort, the words of God. Who has believed our report?

To whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? He said, no wonder Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, because when things came to a showdown, and when things were at such a low ebb, that there was absolutely no chance to have confidence in the flesh anymore, God spoke through Isaiah.

Listen, you and I have the same prophet. We have Isaiah. We have more prophecies than Hezekiah has. We have the same mighty word of Jehovah through Isaiah. God my father speaking from high heaven. He says, why do you fear?

Why do you fear a man whose breath is in his nostrils, and you don't fear me? Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who has created these things that bringeth out their host by a number. Hallelujah. And when things were at the very, very last extremity, God just sent his angel, and drunk, all his enemies were dead.

Learning Not to Trust in Ourselves

God had to allow the enemy to come. God had to allow Hezekiah to come face to face with the worst possible situation. We had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we might learn not to trust in ourselves, but in the living God who raises the dead.

And when Paul had learned that lesson, God sent life through him, and the whole church is drinking from that river of life to this day, because Paul didn't back down, but he trusted in the living God who raises the dead.

Beloved, therein lies an eternal lesson for all of us. Cast not away your confidence. Cast it away if your confidence is in yourself, or in your religious order, or your organization, or in your own righteousness, or in your own faith even.

Then cast it away, because it's full of holes. But if your confidence is in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification, don't cast it away, because he cannot deny himself.

He can, if we fail to believe, yet he is faithful. Oh, to learn this lesson with confidence. I now draw nigh, since when? Why, since God raised him from the dead. My sins are all blotted out, I know. They're all gone.

The blood of Jesus Christ has wiped them out so completely. They don't exist. They never existed. So completely has the blood of Jesus Christ taken my guilt and wiped it out forever and forever. And when God raised him from the dead, he raised me from the dead.

Boldness and Access Through Christ

He associated, he united me with the Lord Jesus Christ. Hallelujah. Now I live no more, because I don't have to live anymore. Christ liveth in me. Listen, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of Him.

By Him, we draw nigh. Hallelujah. Five bleeding wounds he bears, received on Calvary. The poor effectual prayers, they strongly plead for me. And when I pray, it's Christ praying in me. In His name, I have boldness and access with confidence.

And that's why it says, cast not away therefore your confidence. Without that confidence, you're defeated. Let him pray in faith, nothing wavering. For if you waver, don't expect anything from the Lord.

You're not honoring Jesus Christ, when you don't have that confidence in the Son of God, when you don't give Him all the glory. Not I, but Christ. Hallelujah. And when I come to God with that confidence, I come in the name of Jesus Christ, and my God will honor that faith and that confidence.

Confidence Through the Friendship of Christ

I told you about my friend who is a chief pilot of one of the large airliners. I always like it when I meet him, when I have to come across the ocean. One day, I came to Frankfurt, and he met me. And he's the chief pilot, and the jet airliner was ready to take off.

And here he was expecting me. And he came and he talked to me. He says, you come with me. Come on with me, he said. And so he took me into his private car, and drove me out to the place where the airliner was perched, ready to take off.

And then we heard over the radio calling for him. They couldn't leave without him. They needed the pilot to start the plane, and to fly it across the ocean. And they couldn't leave without me, because his coming depended upon me.

He couldn't fly without me. I was his friend. And so he took me to the plane. And instead of going up to the stairway, where all the passengers go into the economy class, he took me into his own private stairway into his cockpit.

And then he said, now you go and sit down in the first class, and I'll come later. So I sat down in the first class, and you should have seen that stewardess when she came around. Now she had her list of her first class passengers, and I wasn't on it.

She looked daggers at me, as if to say, what are you doing here? Go on, you belong in the doghouse. That's just the way she looked at me. I just sat there, and I looked daggers at her. And presently, my friend came, sat down alongside of me, and began to chat with me.

And oh, what a change came over that steward. What a change. When she saw that he was my friend, and I was his friend. Now she came around with canapes, and with eau de cologne, 4711, the very finest that was on the market.

And she wanted to know, did I want to eat some caviar, and did I want to drink martini, and everything that she had. My, she couldn't serve me any better, because the pilot was my friend. Everything was changed.

I rode to America, not in the doghouse like I usually do, but now like a king, like a prince. Listen, cast not away your confidence. Your pilot is not only your friend. Hallelujah. That whole airliner is yours.

Trusting God's Promises and Providence

You know that. All things work together for good. If God before us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all. How shall he not with him also? With him. Glory to God.

Why, this great pilot, who calls these things that be not as though they were, and who calls all the hosts of heaven by name, and they obey him. He says, you little worm, don't be afraid. I'll make a thrashing instrument out of you that can bite, having teeth.

They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. Beloved, shall we be confident? Draw nigh with confidence. Sinatrible, know about it. Oh yes, he is racing through this earth. He is burning down everything that can be burnt down.

God said he'll do that. God said he'll allow him to do that. God said it through Isaiah. But he says, I'll defend my city for my name's sake. He won't shoot an arrow there. Praise God. And he that dwelleth in the sacred place of the most high God shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty, this my conscience.

The Lord as Fortress and Deliverer

I will say of the Lord. Hallelujah. Here's my pilot. He is my God. He is my fortress. He is my rock. He is my deliverer. I shall not be afraid of the terror by night, of the arrow that flyeth by day, of the pestilence that walketh in darkness, of the destruction that wastes of that noon day.

A thousand shall fall at my side. They do. Ten thousand at my right hand, and the temptation comes. How do you expect to escape? When I was 18 years old, I took very, very sick. And everybody thought I was a dead duck.

They had me buried already. My mother cried. My sisters cried. I looked as if I had consumption, galloping consumption. And then they came around. They said, you know, your Aunt Mary, she had consumption.

But she went to a doctor, and she took the medicine, and she's alive today. And you know you're going to be buried. And another one said, you better go to the clinic and have your lungs photographed and know how many holes you got in your lungs.

Oh, these jokes comfort her. A thousand shall fall at thy side. Ten thousand at thy right hand. Beloved, cast not away your confidence. Confidence in what? God invites me to have confidence in Him. He begs me.

Christ's Promises and God's Faithfulness

He commands me to have confidence in Him. Jesus Christ says, let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, all the promises of the Old Testament are yours. And now believe in me. Here are the promises of the New Testament.

Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to have entered into His glory? Ye fools and slow of heart to believe. Never mind. I know it takes time. And I know it takes trials. I know it takes testing.

But God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that we are in. Shall we have confidence in this God? This is our God. Oh, this God who is for us, who could be against us.