The Necessity of Endurance for Salvation
By Eric Schumacher
"For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God,
you may receive what was promised"--Hebrews 10:36.
There is no doubt that we come as Christians seeking the reward promised
by God in His word and through Christ: heaven and the blessings of God's
eternal grace. Hebrews 10:36 tells us that to receive what was promised we
have need of something: endurance. If we think of endurance in terms of
athletics we usually associate it with being able to run long distances
without tiring or giving in. Webster defines endurance as "the ability to
withstand hardship or adversity" and defines its root-word, endure, as "to
continue in the same state-to last; to undergo without giving in; to remain
firm under suffering without yielding". One Christian author states
endurance is 'to hold one's ground in conflict, bear up against adversity,
hold out under stress, stand firm, persevere under pressure, wait calmly
and courageously...It is not passive resignation to fate and mere patience,
but an active, energetic resistance to defeat that allows calm and brave
endurance.' These give us a good understanding of what Spiritual
endurance, or perseverance, looks like. In Hebrews 11:25 Moses endured
when he chose "rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of God, than
to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin..." Enduring involves remaining
faithful to God until we have received what was promised.
We should be concerned then with at least two things: will we endure? and,
by what means do we endure? As Christians we find a great promise of
perseverance to the end in verse 30 of Romans chapter 8. It reads that
"whom He predestined, these He also called; and whom He called, these He
also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified."
Glorification is one of the promises we will receive spoke of in Hebrews
10:36. This verse tells us that all those who have a faith in Christ which
justifies them before God will be glorified. That is, not one person with
true faith will fall short of glorification. If you have true faith, you
will endure. This doctrine, the perseverance of the saints, is a great
truth which should give us, as Christians, peace, hope, comfort,
confidence, and great joy. However, we should be careful to not abuse the
doctrine. One thing this assurance does not give us is a license to sin.
It is too easy to fall into the false assumption, and many have, that we
can go about sinning as we please because we have faith in Christ and
therefore will go to heaven. We need to carefully examine the means by
which we endure, which is the sign of a saving faith. A verse earlier Paul
points out to us how it is our justifying faith becomes one which leads to
glorification. Verse 29 states we are "predestined to become conformed to
the image His Son..." Those that have saving faith will be conformed to
Christ's image in order to be glorified in heaven. Let us look closer at
what Scripture tells us becoming Christ-like consists of:
-Christ tells us to be perfect, as our heavenly father is perfect
-He says if we love Him we will keep His commandments
-scripture commands
us to be obedient to the Father
-to love God
-to flee immorality
-to tame our tongue
-to walk and live by the Spirit
-to be humble
-to practice love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness, and self-control
-to be ready to reprove, rebuke, and exhort
-to pray without ceasing
-to be constantly nourished on words of faith
-to suffer hardship for Christ
-to endure all things
-to keep from being entangled in the things of the world
-to have sound doctrine, which you practice
-discipline yourself for the purpose of Godliness
-keep free from sin
-to be diligent to present yourself as an approved workman
-to handle accurately the word of truth
-to avoid worldly chatter
-to abstain from wickedness
-to not be quarrelsome
-to be kind to all
-to be able to teach
-to be patient when wronged
-to correct with gentleness
-to flee lusts of the flesh
-to forgive from the heart
-to give cheerfully
-to serve God joyfully
-to pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace
This list is far from complete and compiled mostly from a few chapters in
the New Testament. It could easily go on and on for pages. It is simply
overwhelming to look at what God asks of us in being Christ-like. If being
Christ-like is necessary for endurance, then our response would most likely
be similar to that of the disciples in Luke 18 when, after being told they
must give up everything to follow Christ, responded, "then who can be
saved?!" We can take comfort in Christ's response, "the things impossible
with man are possible with God." We can take hope knowing that those whom
God has predestined, called, and justified through faith He will cause them
to be conformed to Christ's image and to endure unto glorification.
Many may try to avoid the importance of this call to sanctification by
raising the questioning "Aren't we free from the law and under grace?
Aren't we saved by faith alone and not by our works?" Yes! We are saved
by grace through faith, not of works. Our works will never save us.
However let us remember that God ordains the ends as well as the means by
which He will bring them about. If God has ordained for someone to have a
justifying faith and to be glorified, He will bring about the means by
which this will take place and one of those means is sanctification. God's
means in Romans 8:29 is that we are 'conformed to the image of His Son..."
A faith that justifies us in Christ is a faith that also sanctifies. The
two cannot be separated. You cannot and will not be justified without also
being sanctified. Sanctification is necessary for our final salvation.
So, am I saying you can lose your salvation? NO! God has guaranteed to
cause all those who are saved (justified) to persevere to the end
(glorification). What can be said is that the test of whether our faith
saves is whether it sanctifies.
Does this mean we will be sinless and never sin again after placing our
faith in Christ? No, we will still sin after our hearts are changed and
our faith is placed in Christ. There are a great deal of holy, Godly,
Christian men living that sin everyday. There is not one Christian living
that does not sin. Although Christians will continue to sin, they do not
abide in it. A Christian fights sin. He is not passive towards sin. He
sees the severity and ugliness of sin and hates it. When he finds himself
in sin he confesses of it and repents, fleeing it. A Christian does not
passively abide in sin as they once did before coming to Christ. 'Faith
delivers from hell, and the faith that delivers from hell also delivers us
from sin.' It is not that our faith will produce a perfect and
flawlessness in our Earthly life. But, it will produce a persevering
fight. The evidence that faith justifies is that it sanctifies. The
battle for obedience is absolutely necessary for our final salvation.
Repentance is an essential aspect of our fight against sin and in living a
sanctified life. It is crucial for endurance. Repentance involves not
only confessing sin, but also feeling remorse over it, understanding the
severity of it, and turning from and battling the sin in the future. Too
often in evangelical Christianity we take repentance far too lightly. When
anyone mentions the term "Assurance of Forgiveness", one verse usually
comes to mind, 1 John 1:9. All too often this verse is thrown around as a
'spiritual Band-Aid'. We claim that if you state you have sinned, then God
will forgive it. Now, bear in mind, I am not contending that 1 John 1:9 is
by any means misleading or false. When we confess our sin, God is faithful
and righteous, and God will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all
unrighteousness. However, we need to look at the verse in context to see
what true confession (repentance) involves. Verse 6 tells us we are liars
if we state we have fellowship with Him and continue to walk in darkness.
Verse 7 states, "If we walk in the light as He Himself is in the
light...the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin." That is, to
be cleansed from all sin by the blood of Jesus we must walk in the light as
He Himself is in the light.
So then, can we have assurance that we are saved? Yes, the Bible gives us
much encouragement of that. In 1 John 5:12-13 tell us 'He who has the Son
has the life' so that we 'may know that we have eternal life.' What does
it look like to have the Son of God? Peter outlines it for us in 2 Peter
1:1-11. He says moral excellence, knowledge, self-control, perseverance,
godliness, brotherly kindness, and love. He says 'if these qualities are
yours and increasing' then you are in the 'true knowledge of our Lord
Jesus'. He exhorts us to 'make certain' His calling and choosing of us,
for as long as we practice these things we will never stumble. We can have
assurance of salvation, it is evident in the things Peter lists, which are
fruits of an enduring and sanctifying faith.
We must beware lest we fall into the trap of thinking we can abide in sin
now and choose to walk in the light and repent later. When we continue to
sin without repentance we are in great danger. When we abide in sin
without remorse, sorrow, and repentance it is as if we go running to Christ
on the cross and willingly plunge a spear into His side. And then, when
the blood begins to flow, we cry out "Thank you Jesus for shedding Your
blood for me!!!", when we pierced Him! How truly thankful can we be if we
continue to sin and pierce Him?! Can we say we are truly sorry over our
sin when we drive the spear deeper into His side?! NO! And choosing to
abide in sin with the intention of repenting later is much, much worse! It
is as if after we see His blood come pouring from His side we choose not to
step under it and be washed clean but instead sit just beside it in sin. We
sit in sin, in a heap of dung next to cross, and play. We cover ourselves
with it and, more than that, we insult Christ by flinging it at Him as He
hangs there. All the while we assume, with pride and arrogance, that we
can, at any moment, step under His flowing blood of grace and be washed
clean. Don't be so sure!!! Don't be so sure you will have time to repent
of wicked ways when the day of destruction comes!
Heed God's warning to repent immediately!!! God's word warns us with the
example of Esau in Hebrews 12:17. Esau sold his birthright for a bowl of
soup and the verse tells us, "when he desired to inherit the blessing, he
was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought for it
with tears..." Ask yourself as you ponder whether to willfully go ahead
and abide in sin, planning to repent sometime later, if this may be the
bowl of soup you are selling your inheritance for. Don't give up your
glorification for chicken-noodle soup! Don't trade seeing God's face for a
bowl of chili! Don't disregard standing in Christ's presence for the
fleeting pleasure of clam chowder!!!
The warning continues in Hebrews 12:25... as it tells us to "see to it you
do not refuse Him who is speaking." Because if we do not escape those who
we refuse on Earth, even much less we will escape God who warns from
heaven.
Psalm 32:6 commands us to "pray to Him in a time when He can be found;
surely in a flood of great waters they shall not reach Him." Don't assume
you can sit in sin until the day of judgment or destruction. Don't assume,
like the people in Noah's day, that you can hear the call to repentance and
then wait until the flood of great waters come. For when the waters came
they rushed to the Ark only to find the doors had been shut and they had
been refused and must face the destruction due them for disobedience. For
Christ tells us in Matthew 7 that some will come to Him saying "Lord, Lord"
yet He will say to them "I never knew you; depart from me, you who practice
lawlessness."
So, we see that sanctification is a necessary attribute of a saving faith.
One cannot be a saint without being sanctified. This is one reason we
must be striving to endure: our salvation. Hebrews 10:36 tells us to
endure "to receive what was promised". Hebrews 11:6 tells us that to come
to God one must believe He is the rewarder. This is the most important and
glorious reason to endure: God's glory and His rewards in heaven.
Christ and God's word most commonly offer two reasons to do what is
commanded. Two things are promised, one to those who endure and one to
those who do not endure. These are reward and punishment, blessing and
curse, ultimately: heaven and hell.
The blessings of God's favor and the glories of heaven certainly are used
to bring people to lead a sanctified lifestyle and to have faith in
Christ... we hear:
-God shows lovingkindness to those who love Him and keep His commandments
-the pure in heart shall see God
-peacemakers will be called Sons of God
-the merciful shall receive mercy
-those who hunger and thirst for righteousness shall be satisfied
-the gentle will inherit the Earth
-Delight yourself in the Lord and He will grant you the desires of your
heart
-trust in God and acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight
-depart from evil and do good, so you will abide forever
God's word certainly is full of promises and rewards with no end. For
those of you who attended last semester's fasting weekend you heard Dustin
unfold an overwhelming menu of God's attributes on which we feasted and
were satisfied. Tomorrow we will hear how to find endurance through faith
in the promises of God. We should look to feast ourselves on how
satisfying God is.
Christ knew men loved to live and feared death. That is why He won men to
Himself through what He offered. But Christ also spoke stern warnings
against sin with the promise of hell. We need to endure so that we may go
to heaven! This is the hope and the promise we will look at tomorrow.
Tonight we will briefly look at the second motivation: to live a sanctified
life so we don't go to hell!
Christ used this motivation often. A few examples would be:
-Matt 18:21-35 - to forgive from the heart or His Father will hand you over
to the torturers
-Matt 5:22 - Don't be angry with you brother or you're guilty enough to go
to hell
-Matt 5:27-30 & 18:7-10 & Mark 9:43.45,47 - If your hand causes you to sin,
cut it off; if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off; and if your eye
causes you to stumble, cast it out!
Why? Because its better to go to
heaven maimed than to burn in hell with all your members. In other words,
fight radically against sin, even to death, or else you'll go to hell!
Here Christ is issuing a radical call to a sanctified life, not only in
deed, but in the mind as well. And in all these passages, and many more,
the motivation remains the same: so you don't go to hell!
It is important that we fully understand the horrors of hell to grasp the
urgency of Christ's warnings. All too often we, as Christians, neglect,
deny, or find unimportant the doctrine of hell. But it is important as
avoiding it is one of the major motivations for a holy life in scripture.
First we must understand that hell is real and necessary. God's name is
supremely valuable. It is above all else in the universe and deserves all
glory. Sin denies the worth of God's name and attacks His glory. Remember
our earlier description of sitting in the pile of dung and flinging it at
Christ? That is what sin does to God's name. When we sin, we set up
ourselves or some lust as a "more valuable god." We assign value and glory
to that which does not deserve it. God hates this because God is jealous
for His name! God commands we have no other gods before Him, so that
nothing else receives the glory due His name. God cannot and will not let
His name be treated so!
God's nature is not only supreme, but it is also infinite. God is the
same yesterday, today, and forever. God had no beginning and He will have
no end. He is eternal and infinite. Therefore, every sin we commit is an
attack against a holy and infinite God. It is an infinite offense to
offend an infinite God.
Finally we find that God is just, and this is why hell is necessary. God
must and will vindicate His name because it is infinitely supreme. He
would be unrighteous if He did not. If a man's son were to be murdered he
would do all he could within the law to punish the murderer of his son.
The lengths to which a father goes to punish his sons murderer shows the
value he places on his son. However if he did nothing and showed no
concern over the murder we would assume that he places little or no value
on his son. In the same way, God displays the value of His name in how He
deals with sin. He will punish sin because His name is His chief interest.
In Isaiah 48:10-11 He says, "...For how can my name be profaned and my
glory I will not give to another." Hebrews 10:30 God promises "vengeance
in Mine, I will repay." God will repay; either in the pits of hell or on
the cross of Christ, God's wrath will be poured out on all sin. God
glorifies and upholds His name by magnifying His justice in hell.
Any sin against a supreme and infinite God deserves an equally just,
supreme, and infinite punishment. God's name is eternal, therefor hell
must be eternal. 2Thess. 1:9 states hell is eternal destruction. Hell's
terrors and torment are conscious and both mental and physical. The damned
will be mentally tormented as they recall the opportunities they had on
Earth to repent and run to Christ. The mental torment will continue as
they realize there is no hope for relief, there is no cool corner to run
to, there is not so much as a drop of water to cool the tongue, there is no
mercy shown to the sinner once in hell.
Ezekiel 8:18 states "I indeed shall deal in wrath. My eye will have no
pity nor shall I spare; and though they cry in My ears with a loud voice,
yet I shall not listen to them." God will withhold nothing and will have
no pity in hell. God knows full well that the sinner will not be able to
bear up under His wrath, and yet He will not withhold it. God knows the
damned will have no strength to stand under His wrath, yet His foot will
trample and crush the damned in hell. He knows you cannot bear up under
His wrath, yet He will still crush you the same, without a passing thought
of mercy. For, God abhors the sinner in hell. Psalm 5:5 tells us God
hates all those who do iniquity. God tells us in Ezekiel 22:20-22 "As they
gather silver and bronze and iron and lead and tin into the furnace to blow
fire on it in order to melt it, so I shall gather you in My anger and in My
wrath, and I shall lay you there and melt you. And I shall gather you and
blow on you with the fire of My wrath, and you will be melted in the midst
of it; and you will know that I, the Lord, have poured out My wrath on
you."
The human mind cannot imagine what sheer terror the unrepentant soul will
face in hell. Jonathan Edwards tries to describe the torment of it as in
being cast into a fiery furnace. Imagine that you are placed into a
furnace of flames which burn as hot as physically possible. Imagine that
once your body is placed in them every fiber and every nerve of your being
would be on fire with the greatest pain and terror imaginable. Imagine
that the pain will not cease or diminish in the least. Now imagine that
you were to be placed in this furnace for but fifteen minutes. Imagine how
slowly the first minute would pass and how much longer the remaining 14
would seem!!! Now imagine not 15 minutes but an hour! A week! A month!
A year! Now imagine what terror and hopelessness is in your mind as you
realize that no matter how you move, how you plead, where you go, there is
no relief. There is no diminishing of the pain. You realize you can do
nothing to soothe yourself and it is by your own doing, by your own sin you
are there! Now imagine it is not for 15 minutes or even a lifetime, but
instead for millions and millions and millions of ages. And when these
millions and millions of countless ages have passed it is not even the
slightest speck of an instant on an infinitely long timeline with no end.
You find yourself stuck forever in the terrors of hell without hope of
relief, mercy, or end. Yet, this description does not come close to
describing the reality of hell faced by the unrepentant sinner.
The sinner living without repentance should realize this is what truly
awaits him! One of the greatest preachers that ever lived wrote this
warning to those who remained unconverted to Christ:
"The bow of God's wrath is bent, and the arrow made ready on the string,
and justice bends the arrow at your heart, and strains the bow, and it is
nothing but the mere pleasure of God, and that of an angry God, without
promise or obligation at all, that keeps the arrow one moment from being
made drunk with your blood. Thus all you that never passed under a great
change of heart, by the mighty power of the Spirit of God upon your souls;
all you that were never born again, and made new creatures, and raised from
being dead in sin, to a state of new, and before altogether unexperienced
light and life, are in the hands of an angry God....You have offended Him
infinitely more that ever a stubborn rebel did his prince; and yet it is
nothing else but His hand that holds you from falling into the fire at this
moment...And there is no other reason you have not dropped into hell since
you rose this morning, but that God's hand has held you up...Consider the
fearful danger you are in: it is a great furnace of wrath...full of the
fire of wrath, that you are held over in the hand of God, whose wrath is
provoked and incensed as much against you, as against the many of the
damned in hell. You hang by a slender thread, with the flames of divine
wrath flashing about it, and ready every moment to singe it, and burn it
asunder; and you have no interest in any Mediator, and nothing to lay hold
of to save yourself, nothing to keep off the flames of wrath, nothing of
your own, nothing you have ever done, nothing that you can do, to induce
God to spare you one moment."
It is truly a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
(Heb.10:31)
This is why hell is useful to consider. It may shock the conscious and
awaken us to a life of endurance and sanctification. It will deter you
from committing sin. It will awaken us to serve Christ as Savior and Lord
(for there cannot be one with the other). Surely, no one will be scared
into heaven. However, the doctrine of hell and the necessity of endurance
may awaken some to scare them away from hell and cause them to cry to God
for mercy.
We have 'need of endurance' to avoid hell. This subject is useful to all
who hear it. To those who are yet unconverted to Christ, stop and consider
what great danger you are in and what great damnation is awaiting you!
Think of the unquenchable fires of hell! Repent of sin and cry to God that
for His name sake He might have mercy on you and change you heart and save
your soul! Trust that Christ will forgive your sins through His death and
resurrection and live in faith in the hope of all He promises to reward.
To those who claim to be Christians and yet willfully abide in sin.
Consider what a great abomination this is. By calling ourselves Christians
we are claiming to be in the process of being "transformed to the image of
His Son". We call ourselves by His name. So, when we sin we are stating
that this is what God is like. We state that He is an adulterer, a
slanderer, a liar, greedy, and crooked. God is not pleased. Consider also
that our persistence in sin shows a lacking of changed heart and repentant
attitude. Remember that a faith which justifies and glorifies us is the
same as a faith that sanctifies! Confess your sin, forsake it, repent, and
fight the sin. Run to Christ pleading His forgiveness believing He is the
rewarder of those who seek Him.
And finally, to Christians. I know there a great deal of Godly men here
tonight. I realize that you are living for Christ and are passionately in
love with Him. My intentions tonight were not to scare you or cause you to
doubt your salvation. Remember what we said early about what true
salvation looks like. Remember the great promise of God to make certain
you endure. Rejoice in that! Take great comfort that God will bring you
to Himself and nothing can separate you from Him! Let this talk tonight
cause you to persevere and endure in righteousness. Let these thoughts of
hell deter you from sin and cause you to press on to perfection in Christ
Jesus. Resolve in your life to find accountability in your struggles, to
resist sin even unto death, and to seek Him for all satisfaction.
Christians, consider what great and terrible wrath you deserve for your
sins. Think about how awful and unbearable the eternal wrath of God is.
Consider that you deserve to suffer under it for all eternity, and even
then you would not satisfy it. Now consider the cross, where this very
same wrath you deserved in sin was poured out upon Christ and satisfied
there. Consider what Christ did for you!!! Let this well-up in your
hearts great joy and thanksgiving that Christ loved you so much to do this!
His suffering went much beyond whips, thorns, and nails to the very wrath
of God! He was pierced for your transgressions and crushed for your
iniquities. He poured Himself out to death and bore our sin and interceded
for us. What great love Christ had! Let us be truly thankful and cry out
to him for what He has done!
We have seen tonight that endurance is necessary to avoid hell. But, this
is not the only motivation and is incomplete. Our greatest and most joyous
motivation is the glories of heaven. Tomorrow we will look deeper into how
we use the terrors of sin and the glories of God to put sin to death. We
will spend time looking at just how glorious God is. Now that we have seen
what we have been spared, let us give grateful praise and thanksgiving for
our salvation and then let us look upon and hope in the glorious rewards
and riches promised us in the gospel.
References
John Owen, Temptation and Sin.
Items in 'quotes' taken from: John Piper, Future Grace
Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE, c 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971,1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, by The Lockman Foundation.
Go back to Contend for the Faith.
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