Keep Going till the End!!!
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12 “Because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold.
13 “But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved.
14 “This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.
"But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved.
24 Then Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak.
25 When he saw that he had not prevailed against him, he touched the socket of his thigh; so the socket of Jacob’s thigh was dislocated while he wrestled with him.
26 Then he said, “Let me go, for the dawn is breaking.” But he said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”
27 So he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.”
But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved.
1 Now Jericho was tightly shut because of the sons of Israel; no one went out and no one came in.
2 The Lord said to Joshua, “See, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and the valiant warriors.
3 “You shall march around the city, all the men of war circling the city once. You shall do so for six days.
4 “Also seven priests shall carry seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark; then on the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets.
5 “It shall be that when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city will fall down flat, and the people will go up every man straight ahead.”
But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved.
9 So Naaman came with his horses and his chariots and stood at the doorway of the house of Elisha.
10 Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh will be restored to you and you will be clean.”
11 But Naaman was furious and went away and said, “Behold, I thought, ‘He will surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over the place and cure the leper.’
12 “Are not Abanah and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?” So he turned and went away in a rage.
13 Then his servants came near and spoke to him and said, “My father, had the prophet told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more then, when he says to you, ‘Wash, and be clean’?”
14 So he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child and he was clean.
But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved.
4 When he had seized him, he put him in prison, delivering him to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending after the Passover to bring him out before the people.
5 So Peter was kept in the prison, but prayer for him was being made fervently by the church to God.
6 On the very night when Herod was about to bring him forward, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and guards in front of the door were watching over the prison.
7 And behold, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared and a light shone in the cell; and he struck Peter’s side and woke him up, saying, “Get up quickly.” And his chains fell off his hands.
But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved.
22 The crowd rose up together against them, and the chief magistrates tore their robes off them and proceeded to order them to be beaten with rods.
23 When they had struck them with many blows, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to guard them securely;
24 and he, having received such a command, threw them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.
25 But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them;
26 and suddenly there came a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison house were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were unfastened.
But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved.
Because lawlessness is increased, most people's love will grow cold
“Love knows no limit to its endurance, no end to its trust, no fading of its hope; it can outlast anything. Love still stands when all else has fallen.” Blaise Pascal
I think this powerful quote sums up our text perfectly.
An elderly Christian lady, who was crippled with arthritis, used to
hobble to the services of the church on crutches. It was a great ordeal and
required of her a considerable amount of toil and pain. A friend of hers observed
her regular and faithful attendance and asked, "How do you manage to be at
every service?" Her answer was, "My heart gets there first, and my old legs
just follow after."
The question why did the wonderful lady suffer through so much pain.
Because there is a love that is great and strong than any pain and outlast any of our problem.
The problem as I see it in this generation is that we have been taught greatly about deliverance but poorly about perseverance.
William Barclay a Church of Scotland minister, and Professor of Divinity and Biblical Criticism said this,
“Endurance is not just the ability to bear a hard thing, but to turn it into glory.” William Barclay
David says this in
6 Now as for me, I said in my prosperity, “I will never be moved.”
7 O Lord, by Your favor You have made my mountain to stand strong; You hid Your face, I was dismayed.
8 To You, O Lord, I called, And to the Lord I made supplication:
9 “What profit is there in my blood, if I go down to the pit? Will the dust praise You? Will it declare Your faithfulness?
10 “Hear, O Lord, and be gracious to me; O Lord, be my helper.”
11 You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; You have loosed my sackcloth and girded me with gladness,
12 That my soul may sing praise to You and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to You forever.
He says, God when times were good I made this covent with You that I would not be moved but when, the time of enduring came I was in dismay.
But instead of blaming You and running away from You. I cried out to You…
"What profit is there in my blood, if I go down to the pit?
Will the dust praise You? Will it declare Your faithfulness?
10 "Hear, O Lord, and be gracious to me;
and my conclusion was this
O Lord, be my helper.
And because you are my helper
You have turned for me my mourning into dancing;
You have loosed my sackcloth and girded me with gladness,
And as of a result of this reality, that my situation will change
my soul WILL sing praise to You and not be silent.
O Lord my God, I will give thanks to You forever.
Ladies and gentlemen, wether is this a tribulation that brings persecution to me soul.
I will remain in love and endure.
What bothers me about the church is that if there is a global pressure that covers the church in a time of great deception those who hope to miss it. You don’t and wont see it. Lose there love for God.
Jesus say that Lawlessness will increase.
Notice what Pauls in 2 Thess 2:7-17 concerning this time of increased Lawlessness
7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way.
8 Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming;
9 that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders,
10 and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved.
11 For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false,
12 in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness.
13 But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth.
14 It was for this He called you through our gospel, that you may gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
15 So then, brethren, stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught, whether by word of mouth or by letter from us.
16 Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us eternal comfort and good hope by grace,
17 comfort and strengthen your hearts in every good work and word.
Notice this context verse 1 says this is regarding the coming of the Lord.
Verse 3 say let know one deceive you. The there will be a great falling away and the lawless man or anti Christ will be revealed in the temple this is that, “The abomination of desolation.” Jesus referred to.
Notice the mystery of lawlessness is connected to the great falling away.
In this time the lawless one will be revealed but here is the Good news. He will be slayed in the appearance of the Lord.
The Lawlessness one will team with the satan with all power and signs and false wonders, and with all the deception of wickedness.
But those who receive salvation the promise is that they will be saved.
So verse 15 says
15 So then, brethren, stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught, whether by word of mouth or by letter from us.
Stand fast or endure.
Because those who endure will be saved.
The bible as a book of history and future is a book of endurance.
Jacob grabbed God and said I will not let go. No matter how much I have to struggle. I will get your blessing.
I will hang in there.
Joshua got to the walls of Jericho and God says march. march around those walls 1 time for 6 days and on the 7th march 7 time.
4 for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.
Confuse our enemy. Im not fighting in my flesh but I am fighting in the spirit. Meaning this may seen weird to you.
It seemed weird for Noah to build an ark when it had never rained.
But jesus said it shall be as the days of Noah.
Look at your neighbor and say this may be weird but I gonna see the end.
Naaman was a leper. Afflicted with a disease that no one was being healed from.
27 “And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.”
The odds may very well be against you, but if God be for you….
Naaman knock at the prophets door and the prophet told him to go and dip 7 times in the Jordan.
Leprosy represents sin and the bible tells us that we all have sin? And we see this with this great and power man became a leper.
No what must we do to be saved. The preacher tell this sin covered man to go down to the Jordan and dip.
The only way to remove your sin and its stain in to go to the fountain and plunge yourself in the Blood.
Oh be washed in the blood.
11 But Naaman was furious and went away and said, “Behold, I thought, ‘He will surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over the place and cure the leper.’
12 “Are not Abanah and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?” So he turned and went away in a rage.
If Naaman began his journey at Damascus, then he had traveled over one hundred miles to get to Samaria, so another thirty miles or so
Listen even if you have to travel a 130 mile if you endure to the end you will be saved.
Peter was in jail but the church wouldn’t stop praying.
Listen church no matter how hard the persecution of the day is. God always responds to a praying church.
So the church endured in pray and peter was set free and saved.
Because those who endure to the end will be saved.
Paul and his good friend Silas where beaten and thrown in prison.
But they didn’t stop praying.
These brother prayed down the kingdom of God and the jail started to shake and their chains fell out.
35 Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.
36 For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised.
37 For yet in a very little while, He who is coming will come, and will not delay.
38 But My righteous one shall live by faith; And if he shrinks back, My soul has no pleasure in him.
39 But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul.
26 And His voice shook the earth then, but now He has promised, saying, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heaven.”
27 This expression, “Yet once more,” denotes the removing of those things which can be shaken, as of created things, so that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.
Look at your neighbor and say through the shaken I will remain.
I will endure. God is purging me. Getting rid of the chaff. Preparing me to be cleaned for the weeding.
I will endure. I will make my way to the mountain.
A famous evangelist told the following incident: I have a friend who in a time of business recession lost his job, a sizable fortune, and his beautiful home. To add to his sorrow, his precious wife died; yet he tenaciously held to his faith -- the only thing he had left. One day when he was out walking in search of employment, he stopped to watch some men who were doing stonework on a large church. One of them was chiseling a triangular piece of rock. 'Where are you going to put that?' he asked. The workman said, 'Do you see that little opening up there near the spire? Well, I'm shaping this stone down here so that it will fit in up there.' Tears filled my friend's eyes as he walked away, for the Lord had spoken to him through that laborer whose words gave new meaning to his troubled situation.
I read this and almost weeped.
I preach this message not to argue and a doctrinal position but to point to the times that we live in and say. There maybe a struggle or a pressure.
But if you don’t quit. If you faint not. If you endure. If you remain in love. You will be saved.
Don’t you dare quit. In the tribulation or before.
Whether he takes us up in the rapture before the period of the tribulation or after.
Fight the good fight. Run the race to win. Look to Jesus..
Fear not little flock, it is the fathers good pleasure to give you the kingdom..
If you don’t quit.
Those who keep the love of God and endure will be saved…