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.


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