SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/17/2023 6:56 PM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-2 “Sin
Will Be Too Attractive”
Bible Reading
& Meditation Reference:
Matthew 24:12-13
Message of the
verses: “12 “And because lawlessness is increased, most people’s
love will grow cold. 13 “But the one who endures to the end, he shall be saved.”
I want to begin this second SD on these verses by
talking about verse 13 “But the one who endures to the end, he shall be saved.” Now we have to be careful in understanding
this verse, as it is not that a person’s endurance will produce salvation but
that his endurance will be a Spirit-empowered product and proof of the reality
that he is saved. You are only saved one
way and that is to believe that you are a sinner, and then accept what Christ
did for you on the cross and so confess that you are a sinner, and then invite
Jesus into your heart to save you.
However after you are saved there are things that you do through the
power of the Holy Spirit to show others that you are a believer, like what it
says in this verse that you endure to the end.
“Neither the high cost of discipleship nor the deception of false
prophets nor the enticement of sin will cause true believers to renounce
Christ, because He Himself will protect them from defection” writes John
MacArthur.
As
I mentioned endurance is always a mark of salvation. “"You will be hated by all because of My
name, but it is the one who has endured to the end who will be saved” (Matthew
10:22). MacArthur adds “The person who
endures in faith whatever hardship or persecution may come to him because of
his relationship to Christ demonstrates that he belongs to Christ, and Christ
assures that person that he shall be saved.
He will eventually be delivered out of the present evil system of
lawlessness and ungodliness into God’s eternal kingdom of righteousness.”
The
following is a list of verses that shows that the perseverance of the saints in
faith is a very basic element of salvation which is found in the New
Testament. It states that people who are
genuinely saved do not depart from the faith as seen in the following verses. John
8:31; 1 Cor. 15:1-2; Col. 1:21-23; Heb. 2:1-3; 3:14; 4:16; 6:11-12; 10:39;
12:14; James 1:2-4).
MacArthur
then adds “Reference to salvation in the future tense in such passages as the
ones just cited (above) does not indicate its beginning but is completion. Endurance cannot initiate salvation any more
than can any other human effort. But it does give evidence of the spiritual
life that resides in the believer and is also a reminder to him that “He who
began a good work in [him] will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus”
(Phil. 1:6); cf. John 10:27-29; Rom 5:8-10; 2 Tim. 1:12; Heb. 7:25; 1 Pet. 1:5;
Jude 24).”
It is the one who endures to the end that is an
overcomer, who is the beloved child of God who does not fear suffering or death
and who will be give the crown of life so that he will “not be hurt by the second
death” (Rev. 2:10-11). The faith that preserves
is the faith endowed and sustained by the indwelling Holy Spirit of
Christ. Now remember that in both the 24th
and 25th chapters of Matthew that Jesus is talking about the
tribulation period where many, many people will be killed for the cause of
Christ, but these principles also go along with people today who are being
persecuted for the cause of Christ. The following verses from Revelation
7:14-16 will show us that the enduring saints of the end times will be
“14b ones who come out of the great
tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood
of the Lamb. 15 “For this reason, they are before the throne of God; and they
serve Him day and night in His temple; and He who sits on the throne will
spread His tabernacle over them. 16 “They will hunger no longer, nor thirst
anymore; nor will the sun beat down on them, nor any heat; 17 for the Lamb in
the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and will guide them to springs
of the water of life; and God will wipe every tear from their eyes."
12/17/2023 7:25 PM
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