Hans R. Waldvogel emphasizes the importance of maintaining confidence in God rather than in ourselves or worldly things, which are ultimately unreliable. He warns against the folly of trusting in our own hearts and encourages believers to draw near to God with boldness and confidence through faith in Jesus Christ. Waldvogel reminds us that true confidence comes from recognizing our weakness and relying on the Living God who raises the dead. He urges the congregation to cast away any confidence that is not rooted in Christ, as it is only through Him that we can find strength and assurance. The sermon concludes with a call to hope and trust in God's faithfulness, reinforcing that our confidence in Him will lead to great rewards.

Selected Verses: Hebrews 10:35. Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward. Proverbs 28:26. He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool: but whoso walketh wisely, he shall be delivered. Ephesians 3:12. In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him. Opening: “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 hath great recompence 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 someplace 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. … Selected Quotes: “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… 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 recompence 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. … 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 come nigh me!” “Cast not away your confidence.” … 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 raiseth 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 raiseth 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’t. 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. … By Him we draw nigh… In His name, I have “boldness and access with confidence.” And that’s why he 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. … 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 ‘threshing 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. Illustrations: A story of friendship with an airline pilot, and how it gave unusual privileges. “Your Pilot is not only your friend, that whole ‘airliner’ is yours. ‘All things work together for good.’ ‘If God be for 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…’” (from 14:12) A reference to an illness at 18 years of age. (from 18:53) German at 9:58: Hymn by Paul Gerhard from 1656, stanzas 1 (second half), 5, and 6: Befiehl du deine Wege, Und was dein Herze kränkt, Der allertreusten Pflege Des, der den Himmel lenkt! Der Wolken, Luft und Winden, Gibt Wege, Lauf und Bahn, Der wird auch Wege finden, Da dein Fuß gehen kann. Und ob gleich alle Teufel Hier wollten widerstehn, (HRW: Dir wollten widerstehn) So wird doch ohne Zweifel Gott nicht zurückegehn; Was er sich vorgenommen, Und was er haben will, Das muss doch endlich kommen Zu seinem Zweck und Ziel. Hoff, o du arme Seele, Hoff und sei unverzagt! Gott wird dich aus der Höhle, Da dich der Kummer plagt, Mit großen Gnaden rücken; Erwarte nur die Zeit, So wirst du schon erblicken Die Sonn’ der schönsten Freud’. (HRW: Die Sonn' der höchsten Freud’) Commit your goings (ways), And whatever hurts you, To the most faithful care— To the one who controls the heavens! The one who for the clouds, the air, and the winds, Makes paths, and ways, and tracks, He will also find ways, Where your foot can tread. And even if all devils Would want to resist, (HRW: Would resist you) Yet without a doubt God will not go back. What he has resolved to do, And what he wills, That finally has to come To its purpose and aim. Hope, O poor soul! Hope, and be not discouraged! Out of the cave, God will (Where affliction plagues you) Relocate you with great grace, Just wait for the time with expectance, And you will surely see The sun of the brightest joy. (HRW: The sun of the highest joy.) References: My Sins Are Blotted Out, I Know, a hymn by Merrill Dunlop, 1927 My sins are blotted out, I know! My sins are blotted out, I know! They are buried in the depths of the deepest sea. My sins are blotted out, I know! Arise, My Soul, Arise, a hymn by Charles Wesley, 1742: Five bleeding wounds He bears; received on Calvary; They pour effectual prayers; they strongly plead for me: “Forgive him, O forgive,” they cry, “Forgive him, O forgive,” they cry, “Nor let that ransomed sinner die!” My God is reconciled; His pardoning voice I hear; He owns me for His child; I can no longer fear. With confidence I now draw nigh, With confidence I now draw nigh, And “Father, Abba, Father,” cry.