General Articles

Endure Unto the End :: By Terry James

Published on: by RR10

Author’s note: This article, written some years earlier, perhaps more than when written, puts focus on the times God’s Word speaks to in regard to being faithful to completing the mission and the assignments the Lord has placed us here to accomplish.

Vince Lombardi, the famous Green Bay Packer coach of the 1960s, known for his draconian training regimen in preparing his players, said: “Fatigue makes cowards of us all.” He put his observation to practical use against his opponents by making sure it was the opponents, not his team members, who were fatigued by game’s end. Each Packer player was totally spent at the end of each practice session; the coach and the players left all they had on the field of preparation.

When strength was returned and fully pumped up on game day, there was more than enough to overpower those not as intensively conditioned. The result was a championship team that continues to be memorialized in sports lore all these years later. There was no team that could match Lombardi’s Packers when the fatigue set in during the later stages of the games they played during the height of their power. There were teams that could match their natural athletic abilities, but none could match their endurance.

The game was won by the intensive time of preparation as much as it was won on the actual field of play.

The use of the above sports analogy is not far-fetched. Paul, the great champion for taking the gospel of Christ forth, used just such an analogy to describe his life, death, and glorious future in God’s kingdom:

“For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing” (2 Timothy 4:6-8).

Paul, it is obvious by studying his writings, was a sports fan. He used things like running a race, beating the air, finishing the course, and other terms that give us insight to the fact that he at least took interest in the society of his day. That society was one filled with sports activities and would have been a natural area of subject matter for the great teacher to interject as he presented the gospel and matters of Bible doctrine.

The games of the day included Olympic-type events. The races, in particular, turned on the cheers of fans of the day. Crowns of laurels (formed from leaves) were placed upon the victors’ heads by the judges.

Paul made the linkage of the races of his time to the bema (judgment seat of Christ), at which children of God will receive crowns of victory based upon how they ran the race in Christ’s cause during their lifetimes. The very nature of such a race indicates the necessity of enduring–of persevering—through the long, sometimes uphill miles of living a life of righteousness.

Most often, Paul used such analogy to indicate, as in the verses above, the fact that the Christian should be willing to endure. In many places, he taught how to build endurance. That preparation most often was wrapped around prayer, Scripture study, and practical action–witnessing and teaching truth to others.

God’s Word telling us to endure is one topical area of Bible prophecy that has caused anxiety-ridden questions among some. It seems to those who question that the command to endure, according to the language used, is a requirement in order to assure that salvation is achieved. One must “endure unto the end” to be saved–to win in the game of life, thus to secure one’s place in heaven for eternity.

Endurance is one of the things God requires of His children. As a matter of fact, He demands it. But what does the term “endurance” used in the scriptures, causing anxieties among some believers, mean exactly?

A close examination of the key verses involved is necessary to understand the term “endurance” in God’s prophetic lexicon. One such reference is found in the Apostle Paul’s foretelling about departure from Bible doctrine in the end of the Church Age:

“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry” (2 Timothy 4:3–5).

Paul was prophesying a time—indeed, I am convinced we are in that time—when many within the very heart of the Christian church will move away from preaching and teaching that man is lost and needs the Savior, who is Jesus Christ, alone (John 14:6). This failure to endure the sound doctrine taught by Jesus, Paul, and the other apostles would, Paul indicated, be a fatigue that would make cowards of many, causing them and those they teach to turn to lies.

We see today this very thing. The gospel that man is lost in sin, thus, must turn to the shed blood of Jesus Christ for remission of that deadly sin, has been changed to give the feel-good message that God is love and would never condemn those He knows to be less than perfect. The fable makers teach and preach the do-good message that we must go along with the world of philanthropists who preach a social gospel to feed, clothe, and, in general, show the have-nots that humanism is their savior.

Much of the Church today thus has failed to “endure until the end.”

Jesus pronounced, in strong language, the role “endurance” will play in the days leading up to His second advent:

“And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved” (Matthew 24:11-13).

Jesus even asks in one instance whether He will find any faith on earth when He returns. And this is where the anxiety comes in for some. Is Jesus saying that those who do not hold to absolute Bible truth until the very end won’t be “saved”? Must we—and those of the Tribulation era—never slip up and sin, thus departing from truth, or else suffer the eternal damnation of hellfire?

The answer is found within the character of the One who issued the solemn statement. Jesus, who said, “It is finished” when He completed the redemption plan of God on the cross at Calvary, also said:

“My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand” (John 10:29).

Saints “endure” through Christ. We haven’t the ability to resist this fallen world apart from the strength found only in our Savior. The supernatural endurance required to “endure unto the end” is not in us but in Jesus, who paid the full price for our eternal souls:

“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).

When we are “in” Christ, we will “endure” because Christ “endures.” He is the same yesterday, today, and forever!

Now, this does not excuse the Christian from remaining faithful to God. In that sense, “endurance” is our responsibility. It is our responsibility to the very end—of our lives, or until the Rapture of Christ’s body, the Church. We are to strengthen ourselves for spiritual battle in order to not become fatigued through prayer, Bible study, and exercising our witness before our fellow man. We put on the whole armor of God as we are directed to do in Ephesians, chapter 6.

God equips us. He doesn’t demand such a hard thing without providing the ability—even the absolute guarantee—of that sort of “endurance” that takes His child “unto the end.”

Those who fail to exercise their witness, in whatever way God directs, become flabby, ineffective ambassadors in Christ’s royal service. There is always a heavy price to pay for such sloth. Not loss of salvation for those who are truly in Christ’s grip, but a loss of position within the kingdom of God.

Those who fail to endure in the center of God’s will suffer loss of rewards when kneeling before their Savior at the judgment seat of Christ.

That is one primary reason we at Rapture Ready and this blog exhort Christians to join in our efforts in these closing days of the Age of Grace—the Church Age. There are many, many opportunities to labor, to “endure,” during these trying times that are presented by the dynamic Rapture Ready website and this blog’s efforts to reach the lost world for Christ.

Many are writing articles, many are writing encouraging emails, and some are giving in other ways to God’s work on raptureready.com.

One area we very much need help in is finances. Donations have dwindled, yet the ministry-associated needs of Christ in these closing days of the age have never been more pronounced. Enduring to the end also means supporting Christ-centered ministries with our financial offerings. If hundreds of millions can be contributed to the prosperity ministries who teach that false message of giving to get, why do not those who hold to Bible truth not support faithful ministries with greatly abundant offerings?

Jesus said: “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matthew 6:21).

 

Two Theological Views Collide: Part 1 :: By Gene Lawley

Published on: by RR10

In recent decades, the 1960s and 1970s, the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) struggled with a faction that wanted to deny the inerrancy of Scripture. Fortunately, those leaders who held to that position of the Scriptures overcame that attack. High-level academia seems to lean toward a rejection of the absolute truth of God’s sovereignty.

Proverbs 3:5 pronounces an action that identifies the core of the problem: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.” Mankind thinks they are so smart that they need to correct God and have Him line up with their understanding.

Now, years later, the internal workings of the SBC are being torn apart with challenges that are essentially, again, an attack on the inerrancy of the Scriptures. The only basic directives of church leadership are in the Apostle Paul’s epistles to the churches. In there, he states that a pastor is to be the husband of one wife. It does not say that a wife is to be a pastor, the pulpit leader of a congregation. Are the Scriptures in error?

Paul wrote to Timothy in 2 Timothy 3:16-17: “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine [truth], for rebuke, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished for all good works.”

All Scripture? Yes, both Old Testament and New Testament, as determined by that body of believers long ago. A Bible student must decide that he believes it to be so inspired, and that any lack of understanding is not in his realm to find an answer to his satisfaction that is outside the whole counsel of God found in the Holy Scriptures.

Proverbs 9:10 tells us this: “Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.”

The many attributes of God define His character and His moral integrity, and knowing those attributes which guide His actions brings our understanding up to His level of truth.

For example, God is a loving God, but He is also a just God and intolerant of sinfulness, even in those He loves. If it appears that He favors one above another, check further to see what other facts are in the mix.

Back to the SBC issues again, we can see the evidence of a disregard for the truths of Scripture.

There has been revealed that sexual abuses have occurred and then covered up rather than confessed and repented. It again speaks of a rejection of the truths of Scripture, not errors that allow one to continue in sin without correction.

There is also a troublesome thrust of false doctrine that is invading the body of Christ with disunity as a result. It is in the contrast of foundational beliefs between the believers called the Reformers and whom they call the Dispensationalists. The Reformers are Calvinists who struggle with certain aspects of their TULIP acronym guideline.

They do not take the Scriptures straightforwardly as they are written but pick and choose, especially those having to do with the end times, where they fit into the picture of the last days.

The Dispensationalists generally follow the Scriptures of the last days in chronological order, as I understand them. Just as they are revealed by the Apostle John and by Paul’s writings of the coming of the Lord to take His believers out of the world, there is a great expectancy that the Scriptures will be fulfilled.

And let’s not forget Jesus’ proclamation in John 11:25-26, which ties directly with 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17. Then Paul announces his subject specifically in 2 Thessalonians 2:1, saying, “Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him….” Is he confining this prophecy to the Thessalonians only, or to all believers then and in the future? The whole counsel of God tells us that it is a prophecy of the future, an Appointed Time in God’s plan of salvation.

Here are some beliefs that I have learned from those who oppose the straightforward and chronological flow of Scripture:

“We are in the Millennium now, and the devil has been bound in the bottomless pit already.”

“The destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in 70 A.D. was the beginning of the Millennium, and the ‘abomination of desolation’ told by Daniel the Prophet took place then.”

“The Second Coming of Christ will happen at the end of the Millennium period, and no such thing as the Rapture will occur. It is a fabrication of John Darby and others in the early 1800s.”

“Jesus did not die for the whole world but only for those who believe in Him.”

“The advent of Jesus Christ and His death, burial and resurrection closed off any ongoing Israeli connection to the future relationship with God [i.e., Replacement Theology].”

“The Apostle John’s Revelation is primarily myths and allegories and not prophetic events of the future.”

“The prophecies of Daniel have already been fulfilled.”

“Now, we are looking for a new heaven and a new earth, coming down from heaven.”

And there may be fragments of others showing up because when man turns from the “whole counsel of God” as found in “all Scripture (that) is given by inspiration of God” to their own understanding—watch out! Mankind, in their wretched bodies of sin, can devise many deviations of their own without realizing their failure, just as history has shown.

The first two in the list above arise from incorrect interpretations of Scripture that show up early in the Christian era when church fathers were trying to make sense of the writings of John and Paul, as it seems to appear in early commentaries.

The Roman Catholic Church wanted to establish its claimed authority as if it was from Christ yet fit in with Rome’s dominating influence. Thus, the Reformed believers from Luther’s and Calvin’s leadership have come forth.

Ignoring Jude’s directive to “contend earnestly for the faith once for all delivered to the saints,” they wove a pathway that defies the simplicity of the Scriptures.

When God fulfilled His commitment to scatter the Jewish people into all the nations of the world because of their repeated rebellion and disobedience by allowing the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in 70 A.D., it was just that. It took 65 years to finally bring Jerusalem to desolation.

The belief that it was the beginning of the Millennium, a thousand-year period, and the “abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the Prophet” took place then has absolutely no foundation of fact. What Roman soldier stood up in the holy place, declaring himself to be God and demanding all to worship him—while they were tearing the temple down? Daniel 9:27 and 2 Thessalonians 2:3-7 tell of this future event.

Then, the Millennium period is yet future when Christ comes back to the earth and establishes His kingdom on earth for a thousand years, told of in Revelation 20. Then is when the devil is chained in the bottomless pit for that length of time.

The claim that the Millennium is now can easily be determined by observing how your dog is intent on killing your neighbor’s cat. Scripture defines the period as having no such atrocities. The wolf will lie down with the lamb, the lion will eat straw with the ox, and a child will play next to a viper’s den without being bitten. (See Isaiah 11:6 and Isaiah 65:25.)

Peter tells us that now “the devil, as a roaring lion, goes about seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8). That one is not chained up until Jesus comes back at His Second Coming. These are Bible truths made clear by historical facts easily seen.

The belief that the Millennium began at the time of the 70 A.D. destruction of Jerusalem and the temple effectively requires bypassing the Revelation of the Apostle John, the 144,000 Jewish evangelists, as well as the prophecies of Paul’s writings. It is a vivid rejection of the validity of the Word of God, which declares that “all Scripture is given by inspiration of God.” The so-called Reformers have denied the authenticity of the Scriptures as they are and have rewritten them according to their own understanding and desires. It seems clear to me that man-made doctrines are overriding the Word of God in a pitiful display of self-proclaimed authority, defying the sovereignty of God. I can’t imagine what the judgment of God will be like for them.

The list above may not match your list, but it comes from my encounters with those who stand on those sandy foundations. As has been said, “All Reformers are Calvinists, but not all Calvinists are Reformers.” That combination of beliefs presents some very challenging views that contrast with the Word of God. We will take a look at some of those issues in Part 2.

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