The Bible’s own description of our final salvation is often overlooked for more lofty things. While Jesus was not dismissing His message of the Born Again experience found in John 3, Jesus made this overarching statement: Matthew 24:13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
Endurance is perseverance. It is keeping your head when chaos surrounds you. It is battling through hardships and bewilderment, all of which are now common to our walk of faith. While I hesitate to offer such words, knowing that some would find them adverse, it should be known that our nation has turned her back on God. Secularism and humanism now rule the day. Media, governments, and public educational systems aggressively attach the Church and the name of Jesus. This confrontation will not stop until the Lord returns. So if you are going to make it, you will have to ENDURE.
Perseverance is much more than tolerating something. Jesus was not submitting that we should “hang on” or scrape by until the end. Jesus was telling us to have resolve, determination, and “staying power.”
When I consider the words of the Lord, I am reminded of Paul’s admonition to Timothy: 2 Timothy 4:3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
Paul was not talking about the sinner who never knew this Way called Holy. He was writing about believers who reject the boundaries of the scripture; of the exclusivity of the name of Jesus; and of righteous living. Paul wrote that people who were once saved will hire teachers who tell them what they want to hear and not what brings conviction. To that end, conviction is almost extinct. The modern Christian calls all things they do not agree with condemnation so as to remove themselves from the message.
Yet, those who believe in the infallible Word of God know that we must embrace strong preaching that convicts our flesh and brings us to an altar of repentance. In the end, only those who are embracing the unfettered Word will be able to stand. In the last days, our days, we must seek to crucify our flesh and run the race set before us, clinging to “faithful words” (Titus 1:9) so we may be able to reach the world with the
Gospel of Jesus Christ. I submit, Endure.
Pastor Jeffrey Harpole