ENDURANCE


A. "AND BECAUSE INIQUITY SHALL ABOUND, THE LOVE OF MANY SHALL WAX COLD. BUT HE THAT SHALL ENDURE UNTO THE END, THE SAME SHALL BE SAVED." MATT. 24:12-13
  1. Our Lord Jesus Christ forecasts the prevailing conditions in the world in the last days and their effect upon Christians:
    1. "And because of lawlessness the love of the great majority will grow cold" - Matt. 24:12 - Weymoth's New Testament
    2. Writes Paul, "This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come" - 2 Tim. 3:1-5
  2. Effect of prevailing lawlessness:
    1. The spirit of indifference and coldness will become widespread among professed Christians Rev. 3:14-17
    2. Under such lukewarmness, it will be difficult to maintain steadfastness to the truth one professes to believe B. ENDURANCE
  3. Meaning of the word "endurance"
    1. The ability to withstand hardship or tribulation
    2. To be steadfast under great pressure
    3. The ability of a person to continue to perform a duty in the presence of mounting difficulty
    4. To endure unto the end simply means that no adverse experience can change the course of our life
  4. Bible examples of endurance:
    1. Job stands out as one of the stars of God fearing endurance - Job 13:15; James 5:11
    2. Paul is still another Christian soldier who endured to the very end of his life - 2 Tim. 4:6-8
    3. Joseph is still another Bible character which stands out in the horizon of faithful endurance - Gen. 50:24-26
  5. The one hundred and forty-four thousand:
    1. Will be a spectacle for the universe to see the grace of Christian endurance - I Cor. 4:9
    2. They will be subjected to the fiercest conflict in the annals of human history - Dan. 12:1
    3. They will be assaulted by the beast power of Revelation 13:11-17
    4. They will be the special target of the wrath of Satan because of their loyalty to the law of God - Rev. 12:17 C. THE GREAT SECRET OF CHRISTIAN ENDURANCE
  6. It is only natural for a child of God to want to know the great secret of Christian endurance:
    1. It is not in the realm of human domain
    2. Said Jesus, "For without me ye can do nothing" - John 15:5
    3. "It is not in man to direct his steps" Jer. 10:23
    4. Says Paul, "For to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not" - Rom. 7:18
    5. That man of God came to the point where he said, "Have no confidence in the flesh" - Phil. 3:3
  7. Here is the great secret of Christian endurance:
    1. "Christ in you the hope of glory" - Col. 1:27
    2. "For in Him we live, and move, and have our being" - Acts 17:28
    3. "For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure" - Phil. 2:12-13
    4. "As thy days so shall thy strength be" - Deut. 33:25
  8. Spiritual elements that make for Christian endurance:
    1. Bible based faith - this is the very foundation of Christian endurance
    2. "Whereunto I am appointed a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles; For the which cause I suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day" - 2 Tim. 1:11-12
    3. It was when Martin Luther appealed to the Bible in the face of the assaults of the Papacy that the cause of the Reformation became firm
    4. Steadfastness in prayer is another element that works for endurance - Matt. 24:42-44; James 5:16-18; I Thess.. 5:17


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