A Call for Perseverance and Faith

Preliminary:

Introduction:

The setting as I understand it… is at the end of the world. The tribulation has begun and the great tribulation is on the brink of beginning.

The antichrist has made war with the saints attempting to have everyone receive the mark of the beast. Any who take that mark (will not be accidental) are forever doomed and lost with no hope of redemption as I understand the scriptures.

There are those who resisted and refused his mark - who will no doubt pay for it with their life but recieve a great blessing. according to Rev 14:13 “And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.”

Now I’m not here to give horror stories of what these Christians will face - I want to rather - show what these people were like and show you that is what we need to be.

We find this contrast between the sinners... those who take the mark

and those who refuse the saints.

We find a definition of what a saint is in our text:

Now sometimes the idea of a saint is a super spiritual Christian or someone who lived a long time ago - but according to the Bible we are all called to be saints.

If you are in Christ you are a saint.

Revelation 14:12 KJV 1900

Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

We are shown three identifying characteristics of saints

They have patience (KJV)

James 5:7 “Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.”

Hebrews 10:36 “For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.”

The Greek word for “patience” is a compound word formed from one word that means “to remain in one place, at a given time, with someone” and the other means “under”

The idea is “to remain under” or “to stand one’s ground, remain steadfast”

My dad loved the Chuck Wagon Gang - many groups I’ve heard in my life change over time due to the changes in singers - I can usually pick out the Chuck Wagon Gang no matter what time period the song is from - they just have a distinctive sound.

My dad used to have an album of them that had a song on it that expressed this idea of “patience” very well I think -

Keep on Keepin’ On - Chuck Wagon Gang

you gotta Keep on Keepin’ On

If you want to win the battle

Its for sure that a quitter never wins

You gotta keep on keepin’ on

And that’s all that matters

Even though you’re down

You gotta keep on keepin’ on

A Saint doesn’t just have patience and remain steadfast and keep on keepin’ on but we also see...

They Keep the Commandments of God

They Keep the Faith of Jesus

Patience - perseverance = The capacity to hold out or bear up in the face of difficulty. BDAG

as a basic attitude or frame of mind patience, steadfastness (2C 12:12; probably 2TH 3:5); (2) as steadfast adherence to a course of action in spite of difficulties and testings perseverance, endurance, fortitude (RO 5:3, 4; probably HE 10:36; perhaps 2TH 3:5); (3) with a component of hope and confidence expectation, patient waiting (RV 1:9; perhaps HE 10:36)

Friberg, T., Friberg, B., & Miller, N. F. (2000). In Analytical lexicon of the Greek New Testament (Vol. 4, p. 392). Baker Books.

This type of perseverance doesn’t come over night and it doesn’t come without tribulation, or pressure, suffering.

The word is made up of two words a compound word formed from meno (3306) “to remain in one place, at a given time, with somone.” and hupo (5259) “under” the idea then is to “remain under” that is, “to stay behind, to stand one’s ground, survive, remain steadfast.”

Ethical Conclusion—Call For Endurance (14:12–13) After the prophetic announcements of 12:1–14:11, John now contextualizes the material, relating the implications for his readers. This builds on 12:17 (“keep God’s commandments and hold fast their testimonies”), 13:10 (“This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness”), and 13:18 (“This calls for wisdom”). It is another call for perseverance that is one of the primary themes in the book. Every term in 14:12 occurs in one of these three passages. This is the last of seven times “patient endurance” occurs in Revelation (1:9; 2:2, 3, 19; 3:10; 13:10; 14:12). It is the key ethical term in the book and commands God’s people both to wait on the Lord and to overcome evil. The rest of the verse is in effect a definition of “endurance,” depicting it in terms of obedience and faithful living. Keeping God’s commandments, as in 12:17, means to understand them, follow and obey them, and to “guard” (part of the meaning of the term) them in a world that prefers darkness over light. This is a corporate concept; all in the church must be vigilant to help each other keep God’s commandments. The second aspect can be translated “maintain your faith in Jesus.” “Faith” occurs in 2:13, 19; 3:10, and “faithful” in 1:5; 2:10, 13; 3:14; 17:14; 19:11; 21:5; 22:6. While the term could refer to doctrine (“the Christian faith”), it more likely connotes a faithful Christian walk, remaining faithful to Jesus. Together, the whole of 14:12 demands that the believers maintain their allegiance to Christ and overcome the pressures of the world to conform to its sinful lifestyle. Those who faithfully persevere in Christ and refuse to give in to the world’s pleasures can expect severe opposition and persecution, even to the point of martyrdom. So in 14:13 a “voice from heaven” directly from God reassures the readers. In 10:4, 8; 11:12, it also denotes a message straight from God with no mention of an angelic herald. The command to “write this” echoes 1:11, 19; 19:9; 21:5, and emphasizes further that John is merely the channel and these are God’s words to the church. This is the second of seven beatitudes in the book (with 1:3; 16:15; 19:9; 20:6; 22:7, 14) and proclaims God’s special eschatological blessings on those who will die for Christ.

Osborne, G. R. (2016). Revelation: Verse by Verse (pp. 245–247). Lexham Press.

Verse 12 presents an entirely different group, in stark contrast. These are “the saints,” different in nature, behavior, and future. The “patience of the saints” is the faithfulness of Tribulation saints that enables them to endure the persecutions, natural catastrophes, and temptations to compromise with the Antichrist (see comments on 13:10). They remain true to the commandments of God, though for many this leads to martyrdom. The “commandments of God,” according to Beale (766), are “a holistic reference to the objective revelation of the old and new covenants.” Commandment keeping is not incompatible with N.T. discipleship: see Mt. 5:17–20; 1 Jn. 2:2–5; 3:22–24; 5:2, 3. That they “keep the faith of Jesus” apparently means that their faith in Jesus Christ endures to the end. Believers of all generations, particularly those during the Tribulation, find the inner strength necessary to endure the hardships and threats of the period because they believe that the future will be exactly as it is being portrayed in the revelations contained in this book.

Pugh, G. (2010). Commentary on the Book of Revelation. In R. E. Picirilli (Ed.), 1, 2, 3 John & Revelation (First Edition, p. 358). Randall House.

12 Now an exhortation is given to true saints to persevere through temporary suffering, inflicted on them because of their loyalty to Christ, so that they might avoid the eternal consequences of loyalty to the beast and receive an eternal reward (v 13). The warning in vv 6–11 is intended to motivate believers to persevere. Therefore, v 12 is the main point of vv 6–12, as with the similar exhortations in 13:10 and 13:18. 14:9–13 follows the pattern of 13:11–18, where mention of the worshipers of the beast and his image, who bear the mark on their foreheads and hands, is followed by reference to the persevering faith of believers, which enables them not to be deceived by the beast. Likewise, 14:12–13 follows 14:9–11. That these two passages are linked in this way is apparent from the ὧδε … ἐστίν (“here … is”) formula introducing both 13:18 and 14:12–13. Essentially the same pattern has occurred in 13:1–10 with ὧδε … ἐστίν introducing vv 9–10. In each case the formula is part of a larger clause summarizing Christian faith (13:10: “here is the endurance and faith of the saints”; 13:18: “here is wisdom”; 14:12a: “here is the endurance of the saints”). In ch. 13 either the preceding or following context defines the summary statement. In 13:10b faith is defined as listening with spiritual ears and being able to accept the suffering entailed in not compromising with the beast (13:9–10a). In 13:18a faith is defined as a wisdom that is able to discern the evil, sinful character of the beast and not be deceived into following him (the same is true with the ὧδε formula in 17:9). Both of these definitions from 13:10 and 13:18 concerning faithfulness, discernment of evil, and resistance to compromise are in mind in the summary statement of faith in 14:12a. Included also is the idea that if wisdom is exercised, it will prevent divine judgment, which would entail worse suffering than Christians experience in persecution. The fact of coming judgment against their persecutors also motivates Christians to persevere. This motivation does not arise from revenge but from a desire that judgment will show the Christians’ cause to be true and will vindicate the righteous name of God, which has been blasphemed by the beast and his allies (see further on 6:10). That judgment as the motivation for perseverance is also in mind is evident from the close links between 14:13, 18 and the saints’ prayers for vindication in 6:9–11 (see below). The faith is defined in 14:12 as “keeping the commandments of God and the faith in Jesus,” which is almost identical to the description of persecuted Christians in 12:17b: “those who keep the commandments of God and having the testimony of Jesus.” “The commandments of God” is a holistic reference to the objective revelation of the old and new covenants, to which the faithful remain loyal. Ἰησοῦ is a genitive of source, so that τὴν πίστιν Ἰησοῦ is best rendered “faith from Jesus” (though objective genitive, “faith in Jesus,” is possible and is preferred by most commentators). This refers specifically to the objective gospel traditions having their origin in Jesus, since it is parallel with the preceding “commandments from God” (τὰς ἐντολὰς τοῦ θεοῦ; cf. 1:9). That πίστις refers to the doctrinal content of the Christian faith (cf. Jude 3) is further evident from 2:13, where the word occurs with the same meaning. In fact, “keeping the faith of Jesus” (οἱ τηροῦντες … τὴν πίστιν Ἰησοῦ) is synonymous with “not denying my faith” in 2:13 (οὐκ ἠρνήσω τὴν πίστιν μου). In that parallel and the one in 12:17 the genitives “my” and “of Jesus” may be intentionally ambiguous (objective genitive and genitive of source). The same ambiguity may occur here (see on 12:17; 1:2—though the focus of the phrase in 1:9 is objective genitive). Therefore, the ideas of “faith from Jesus” and “faith in Jesus” could both be included. The ambiguity of the second genitive (“the faith of Jesus”) may even allow room for a subjective genitive (“Jesus’ faith”), especially on analogy with 1:5 and 3:14, where Jesus is called a “faithful witness.” If the idea of a subjective genitive is included, then the point in v 12 would be that Christians are to reproduce Christ’s faithfulness to his Father in the face of enticements to trust in the world’s ungodly norms of living. The occurrence of ὑπομονή (“endurance”) in 13:10 and here emphasizes that what is needed in withstanding the beast’s deceptions and temptations to compromise is not a temporary faith but one that endures through constant watchfulness. The allurement to compromise for the sake of insuring earthly welfare must be guarded against vigilantly.

Beale, G. K. (1999). The book of Revelation: a commentary on the Greek text (pp. 765–767). W.B. Eerdmans; Paternoster Press.

Great Quotes from

A VOICE FROM HEAVEN A Sermon Delivered by C. H. SPURGEON, at the metropolitan tabernacle, newington.

Spurgeon, C. H. (1875). A Voice from Heaven. In The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons (Vol. 21, p. 109). Passmore & Alabaster.

The Discipline of Spiritual Tenacity Psalm 46 The world as it is, is not good enough to be true. We ought not to be satisfied with it. God has prepared some better thing. But it by no means follows that what God has prepared is what we should now choose. There may be heavy sorrows and disappointments in store for us, if so it will mean that our hopes need purifying. Forsyth Tenacity is more than endurance, it is endurance which has at its heart the absolute certainty that what we look for is going to transpire. Spiritual tenacity is the supreme effort of the Spirit of God in a man refusing to believe that his “Hero” is going to be conquered. The greatest fear a man has is not that he will be damned, but that Jesus Christ will be worsted; that the things He stood for—love and justice, forgiveness and kindness among men, won’t win out in the end. Then comes the call to spiritual tenacity, not to hang on and do nothing, but to work deliberately and tenaciously with the certainty that God is not going to be worsted. 1. In the Wildness of Nature (Psalm 46:1-3) There is a wildness all through Nature and we are suddenly struck with its brutality and ask, “Why, if God is a beneficent Creator, does He allow such diabolical things to happen?” Has the Bible anything to say about this, any revelation that explains it? The Bible explanation is that Nature is in a disorganised condition, that it is out of gear with God’s purposes, and will only become organised when God and man are one (see Romans 8:19). We all have our problems, something about which we say, “Now, why is it?” Never take an explanation which is too slight. A materialistic explanation or an evolutionary explanation cannot be final. The great thing is to remain absolutely confident in God. “Be still, and know that I am God.” 2. In the Whirlwind of Nations (Psalm 46:4-7) According to the Bible, the nations as we know them are the outcome of what ought never to have been. Civilisation was started by a murderer, and the whole of our civilised life is based on competition. There are grand ingredients in civilised life, but the basis is not good. In the whirlwind of nations such as is on just now, many a man has lost, not his faith in God (I have never met the man who had lost his faith in God), but belief in his beliefs. When a man’s belief in his beliefs suffers a severe blow, for a while he thinks he is disbelieving in God; in reality all he has lost is the conception of God that had been presented to him and he is coming to a knowledge of God along a new line. There are those who have maintained their faith in God, and the only language they can use to express it is—“I know God is God, although hell seems on top all round.” 3. In the Weariness of Nemesis (Psalm 46:8-11) A man may sin magnificently, but he is punished drearily. The whole of our prison system is a day after day nemesis which makes men wish they had died rather than that the gates of paradise had clanged behind them. We are apt to make the mistake of looking for God to put things ostensibly right immediately. If we dwell much on the Second Coming without having a right spiritual relationship to God, it will make us ignore the need for spiritual tenacity. Just now, Jesus says, “The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: . . . for lo, the kingdom of God is in the midst [mg] of you” (rv). When our Lord does come, He will come quickly, and we will find He has been there all the time. One of the greatest strains in life is the strain of waiting for God. “Because thou didst keep the word of My patience” (rv). God takes the saints like a bow which He stretches and at a certain point the saint says, “I can’t stand any more,” but God does not heed, He goes on stretching because He is aiming at His mark, not ours, and the patience of the saints is that they “hang in” until God lets the arrow fly. If your hopes are being disappointed just now it means that they are being purified. There is nothing noble the human mind has ever hoped for or dreamed of that will not be fulfilled. Don’t jump to conclusions too quickly; many things lie unsolved, and the biggest test of all is that God looks as if He were totally indifferent. Remain spiritually tenacious.

Chambers, O. (1996). God’s Workmanship. Marshall, Morgan & Scott.

The Saints in the Disaster of Worldliness Here is the patience of the saints, they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. Revelation 14:12 (rv) The language of the Book of Revelation is easily misunderstood. For instance, when we use the word “beast” we mean something particularly offensive to our sensibilities; the “beast” in the Book of Revelation is anything but offensive; he is not an immoral beast, socially understood, but a beast from God’s standpoint. The Patience of the Enshrined Life of God Here is the patience of the saints. The revelation of God in the Bible works in a twofold way: first the Incarnate Fact, our Lord Jesus Christ; second, the interpretation of that Fact enshrined in the lives of those who are “called to be saints.”† A saint is one in whom the life of Jesus Christ is formed. The description given in Revelation 14:9-11 is the description of prosperous worldliness such as has never been seen before, but from God’s standpoint it is a moral disaster, and I should say we are very near the type of civilised life that this refers to. What is described in the climax is true in every stage until the climax is reached. After the War this combine of everything, in which it will be impossible to have religion independent of an organisation, or business independent of a federation, will take place. (a) In the Perversion of Religion If any man worshippeth the beast and his image, and receiveth a mark on his forehead, or upon his hand . . .††† (rv) This is the description of a man who has given the best he has got to the ruling power that gives him what he wants. If he is consecrated entirely there, he will meet with undoubted prosperity. He receives “a mark on his forehead, or upon his hand” (symbols of thought and grasp), a mark of the time in which he lives, cut off from everything other than the present order of things. The worship that should be given to God is given to “the beast and his image.”††† The saint has to endure, keeping “the word of My patience,” maintaining the enshrined life of God in the midst of this perversion of religion. We can always recognise the mark of the beast if we put this one simple test—was it necessary for Jesus Christ to have lived and died to produce that attitude to life? (b) In the Punishment of Revelation . . . he also shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mingled unmixed in the cup of His anger. (Revelation 14:10 rv) —intoxicated by the elemental wrath of God. The love of God and the wrath of God are obverse sides of the same thing. If we are morally rightly related to God we see His love side, but if we reverse the order and get out of touch with God, we come to a place where we find everything is based on wrath—not that God is angry, like a Moloch, but wrath is inevitable; we cannot get out of it. If we give the best we have got to worldliness we shall one day wake up to the revelation of what we have done and shall experience the wrath of God, mingled with ungovernable despair—“I gave the best I had got, not to God, but to the world, and I can’t alter now.” This is not only true with individuals, but with the whole of civilised life. Take the good, thoroughgoing, prosperous, worldly business men of any country who have worshipped at the shrine of a pagan worldliness, you will find exactly what Jesus says, their hearts fail them—“men fainting for fear, and for expectation of the things which are coming on the world” (rv). Men who have worshipped mammon have the mark of the beast in thought and grasp, and when the realisation of where they are comes, they “faint for fear.” Civilisations will get there; and the panic in any country will be beyond all limits. God is the controller of History. (c) In the Pain of Recession and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever. (Revelation 14:11) That is the pictorial way of presenting the atmosphere of the wrath in which civilisations will be found when once God is manifested. When mediaeval artists wanted to portray a crime they usually accompanied the scene with bad weather. According to God’s Book, this is not merely pictorial, but a representation of what will actually take place. “The smoke of their torment” refers not only to the physical condition of individuals, but to the terrific disturbance in Nature which is connected with it. Satan is “the prince of the power of the air.” Take the popular idea of Christianity and compare it with the patience of the saints, and you will see where we are. Popular Christianity says, “We must succeed.” The Book of Revelation says success cannot be marked, it is impossible. The New Testament conception of spirituality in the world is a forlorn hope always, by God’s design. Take the parable of the Sower††, which is the key to all the parables, only one-fourth of the seed sown brings forth fruit in this dispensation. We are determined to be successful; the Apostle Paul says we are called upon to be faithful (1 Corinthians 4:1-2). In this dispensation it is a day of humiliation in the lives of the saints, as it was in the life of our Lord. We have to remain steadfastly patient to God through the whole thing. The Practice of the Expressed Love of God . . . they that keep the commandments of God. What are the commandments? “The first of all the commandments is, . . . thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: the second is . . . this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Mark 12:30-31†††). (a) Among the Unseemly “Love . . . doth not behave itself unseemly . . .” (1 Corinthians 13:4-5rv). In prosperous worldliness there is any amount that is unseemly, not from the social standpoint, but from the saint’s standpoint. The way worldly sagacity argues is—Pay men back in their own coin, if you have been deceived, deceive in order to get your rights—“an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.”††† You cannot do that if you are a saint. We must practise the expressed love of God and behave among the unseemly as the children of God. There is no test on earth to equal it. There is unseemly laughter at the saint—“Where is your success? What have you done? what is the good of missionary enterprise? what is the use of talking about spiritual things to soldiers?” If the saints are not practising the expression of the love of God, they will be discouraged and give up. Discouragement is “disenchanted egotism”; “I have not got what I wanted, therefore I am not going on, I give it up. I have lost my conceit.” “Love . . . taketh not account of evil . . .” (rv); it does not ignore the fact that there is evil, but it does not take it into calculation. Someone has done us a wrong, and we say, “Now I must be careful. . . .” Our attitude is to be that of the expressed love of God, and if we take the evil into account we cannot express His love. We must deal with that one as God has dealt with us. There is no bigger, stiffer job for a saint than that. (b) Among the Unspiritual “Love . . . rejoiceth not in unrighteousness, but rejoiceth with the truth . . .” (1 Corinthians 13:4, 6rv). Prosperous worldliness is unspiritual and those who do not pray and who are not at all holy get on well. There is so much nervous energy spent in spiritual exercises, in giving time to study, that the temptation is to let these things slip. We have to express the love of God and see that we do not become unspiritual among the unspiritual tendencies around us. If you listen to the talk of the day in which we live you find it is sagacious common sense that rules, the spiritual standpoint is taboo, like a fairy-story. The question is, will we maintain the spiritual standpoint, or say, “oh yes, it is rather too high”? We do not need Jesus Christ and the Bible for the ordinary common-sense standpoint, and if in a crisis we act according to common sense we do not express the love of God. (c) Among the Unshameable “. . . beareth all things, . . . endureth all things” (1 Corinthians 13:7). After every phase of a particular type of successful civilised life, we get the anti-conventionalist who tries to develop the unshameable attitude and brags about things. It is called pluck; it is not, it is shamelessness, and it is easy to remain unspiritual before that. At the basis of every one of these matters, the unseemly, the unspiritual, the unshameable, is something that is right, a strong basis of common sense; but the test for the saint is not common sense, but “Is this what Jesus Christ stood for?” “For I am not ashamed of the Gospel,” says the Apostle Paul. If you dare to stand for Jesus Christ and His presentation of things in certain crises, men will separate you from their company, treat you with unutterable contempt. “Blessed are ye,” said Jesus, “when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man’s sake” (Luke 6:22†). We have to express the love of God in the midst of these things. The Power of the Enshrouded Loyalty to God . . . and the faith of Jesus. The faith of Jesus is exhibited in His temptation†† and can be summed up in His own words: “I came . . . not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent Me.”††† Jesus remained steadfastly loyal to His Father, and the saint has to keep the faith of Jesus. (a) Under the Success of Civilisation (Matthew 4:3-4) In the Temptation†† the sagacity of Satan is seen from every standpoint—“If Thou art the Son of God, command that these stones become bread"† (rv): “Look after men’s bodies, feed them and heal them, and you will get men under Your control.” Was Satan right? would Jesus Christ have gained the Kingship of men if He had put their needs first? Read John 6:15—“Jesus therefore perceiving that they were about to come and take Him by force, to make Him king, withdrew again into the mountain Himself alone” (rv). It is this temptation which has betaken the Christian Church to-day. We worship Man, and God is looked upon as a blessing machine for humanity. We find it in the most spiritual movements of all. For instance, watch how subtly the missionary call has changed. It is not now the watchword of the Moravian call, which saw behind every suffering heathen the Face of Christ: the need has come to be the call. It is not that Jesus Christ said “Go,” but that the heathen will not be saved if we do not go. It is a subtle change that is sagacious, but not spiritual. The need is never the call: the need is the opportunity. Jesus Christ’s first obedience was to the will of His Father—“Lo, in the volume of the Book it is written of Me, I delight to do Thy will,”† and, “As the Father hath sent Me, even so send I you” (rv). The saint has to remain loyal to God in the midst of the machinery of successful civilisation, in the midst of worldly prosperity, and in the face of crushing defeat. (b) Under the Success of Ceremonialism (Matthew 4:5-7) “If Thou art the Son of God, cast Thyself down . . .”† (rv). “Do some supernatural wonder, use apparatus whereby You will paralyse men’s wits and stagger them, and the world will be at Your feet.” In the midst of the success of worldliness we get an outburst of spiritualism, of supernaturalism, fire called down from heaven by the authority of the devil, and all kinds of signs and wonders whereby people say, “Lo, here is Christ.”†† Jesus said, “The kingdom of God cometh not with observation.” I believe in the Second Coming, but not always in its advocates. They are apt to ignore altogether what Jesus said. (c) Under the Success of Compromise (Matthew 4:8-10) “All these things will I give Thee, if Thou wilt fall down and worship me.”† “Be diplomatic, be wise, compromise in a wise shrewd way and You will get everything under Your own control.” That is the kind of thing the peace of the world is based on, we call it “diplomacy.” Jesus maintained His faith in God’s methods in spite of the temptations which were so sagacious and wise from every standpoint, saving the standpoint of the Spirit of God. The insinuation of putting men’s needs first, success first, has entered into the very domain of evangelism, and has substituted “the passion for souls” for “the passion for Christ,” and we experience shame when we realise how completely we have muddled the whole thing by not maintaining steadfast loyalty to Jesus Christ. You will find the things God uses, not to develop you, but to develop the manifestation of God in you, are just the things we are apt to ignore—successful worldliness, other people, trials of our faith—these are the things that either make a saint un-saintly, or give God the chance to exhibit Himself. The most delightful saint is the one who has been chastened through great sorrows. The type of character produced by great sorrows is different from that produced by the pressure of the “mosquito” order of things. The saints are unnoticed, there is no flourish of trumpets about them, nothing self-advertised, but slowly and surely this characteristic comes out—the stamp of a family likeness to Jesus Christ, and men take knowledge of them, that they have been with Jesus. Zeitoun, Egypt Sunday morning service, August 26, 1917

Chambers, O. (1959). The servant as His Lord. Marshall, Morgan & Scott.

2178 -- PERSEVERANCE, FINAL, is in theological writing used to designate the doctrine

that those who are truly converted shall never finally fall from grace, but shall hold out to the end

and be saved. The doctrine is logically derived from that of election and reprobation. If persons

are elected from eternity without foresight of either faith or good works, but chosen to salvation, it

follows necessarily that having received the Spirit, which the elect alone receive, they are assured

of eternal life. Hence all Calvinistic churches adopt, as an article of faith, the doctrine of the final

perseverance of the saints. Arminian churches, on the contrary, believing that salvation depends

upon the proper exercise of free will in yielding to the influence of the Divine Spirit, and that

persons who have yielded may again reject the influences of the Spirit and fall into sin, do not

believe that those who are converted will necessarily be saved.

They ground their belief further on the warnings which are given by our Saviour and his

apostles in teaching the necessity of watchfulness and prayer and in the warnings against falling

away contained in many passages of Scripture, and the express declaration that some had been

made "shipwreck of faith" and had fallen away. And even the Apostle Paul, who had such

exceeding visions of glory felt it necessary to keep his body under lest he himself should become

"a cast-away." Besides, this doctrine places the Christian higher than Adam stood in his primeval

state, for though created in the image of God he was liable to fall. It is also believed to encourage

indifference and disobedience by removing the thought of all danger of falling from the mind of the

regenerate. The Methodist Churches, being Arminian in theology, totally reject the doctrine of the

necessary perseverance of the saints, while at the same time they teach that the prayerful and

obedient, while they remain in that condition, can never be separated from the love of God which

is in Christ Jesus. They believe it, however, to be necessary to use all diligence to make their

"calling and election sure."cyclopedia of Methodism

Keep on Keepin’ On - Chuck Wagon Gang

you gotta Keep on Keepin’ On

If you want to win the battle

Its for sure that a quitter never wins

You gotta keep on keepin’ on

And that’s all that matters

Even though you’re down

You gotta keep on keepin’ on

Everybody knows its not easy

Sometimes it seems that life just isn’t fiar

Everybody’s aksing the same old questions

Tell me how do you get there from here?

2. I know hat its hard to keep going

When you’re running low on luck and short on dream

But I think if you’ll stop and count your’re blessings

Life won’t be as bad as it seems