This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven. (Acts 1:11)
But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. (Matt. 24:13)
Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth. . . . (Luke 21:26)
What does it mean to endure? The scripture says that the one that endures is the one that shall be saved. When I was a young believer, I took that to mean the one who manages to hang on through all kinds of terrible circumstances—one who endured the worst of the worst. It called up the image of a teeth-gritting experience, and as a result of that mental picture, I had the impression that we were in store for terrible things, and that it was going to be really, really hard to hang on.
Thankfully, as the Holy Spirit has shed the light of truth into my heart, I have a much better understanding now of what Jesus meant. And because of that, I no longer look to the end times with dread and foreboding. You see, I have had lots of practice at enduring, and I know that by His grace, I will endure until the end and I shall be saved. To endure means to last, to continue in the same state without perishing, to remain, to abide. To endure means to continue in the same state of faith as the moment you turned to Jesus to cleanse you of your sins. At the moment you believed on Jesus and took him to be your savior, your faith was in him and him alone. Your confidence was in the truth that His finished work was sufficient on your behalf to cleanse you from sin and secure your place in eternity with Him. Do you still believe that?
To endure means to continue in the same state of trust in and love for the One who paid the price for your sin and guilt. Do you still feel that enormous sense of peace and freedom from guilt that was yours when you got saved, or has the guilt returned, little by little until you feel vaguely burdened? What about your love for Jesus? Have you ever noticed that guilt makes you much more self-aware, and less enthusiastic about your love for Jesus?
Many Christians think that the remedy for guilt is to stop sinning. So, in an effort to be faithful followers of Christ, they purpose to try harder to avoid “the sin that so easily besets them.” Unfortunately, the harder we try, the more we struggle and chafe under our own inadequacies. Then the cycle is set in motion with trying leading to struggling which leads to inadequate results which leads to condemnation which leads to trying harder, and on and on it goes. In the middle of all this, we feel unhappy and often become unpleasant in our outlook, which before too long takes on resentment and sometimes even bitterness. All the while we’re trying to love God, who is expecting us to endure in this endless cycle. For many, their Christianity causes them to feel that they are caught between a rock (God’s expectations) and a hard place (their own struggle to live up to those expectations).
Thank God there is an answer! The remedy for guilt isn’t the seemingly obvious “stop sinning.” If you believe that you simply must stop sinning to be relieved of guilt, your belief system is still rooted in the Old Covenant, the Law. The believer’s remedy for guilt is to do the exact same thing that you did when you got saved—believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and believe that His finished work is what cleanses you. If you get seduced into believing that the way to stay clean is to stop sinning, then you are trusting in Christ to save you, but trusting in your own works to keep you saved. Remember what Paul said to the Galatians, “Are ye so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?” In other words, “You got into this by trusting in the work of the Spirit. Are you foolish enough to try to add your own works to the work of the Spirit?” The remedy for guilt is belief in the cleansing blood of Jesus.
When you believe that the shed blood washes you clean, you are flooded with peace and love for your savior. His unconditional love and acceptance draws you into a path of righteousness like a magnet draws filings, and you are empowered to walk above sin. However, the minute you begin to take on the responsibility for your righteousness, you are continually reminded of the futility of your inability to walk perfectly before him. That futility comes like a cloud to block out your vision of His love for you and you enter into that endless cycle of guilt and condemnation again. You end up focused on your sin instead of his love, feeling condemned instead of cleansed and empowered.
My daughter Jessica said it beautifully recently,
“When I feel guilty, angry, or condemned, I will run away from—not towards—God. What a dangerous place guilt and condemnation are for me. For if I am to remain in, and abide in, my life-giving Vine, I must never allow the deception of guilt and condemnation to silence His loving voice of Truth. That voice of Truth speaks unconditional love and acceptance through Christ Jesus. Hearing that voice of Truth speaking unconditional love and acceptance because of the price that Jesus paid on the cross is essential in my Christian walk. When I don’t hear that voice, I tend to stray. When I hear the voice, I stay grounded and established in His love. It is that love of His that allows me to experience everything else He has for me.
"In the case of my own children, when they feel loved by me, they are more apt to be obedient and loving in return. When they do not feel loved (for whatever reason) they tend to grow disobedient and rebellious. So it is with believers. It is the love of Christ that roots and establishes us. If we try to build a foundation in our Christian walk that is upon anything other than His [unconditional] love [for us], it will not be solid.”
You can endure! It’s not hard! You can remain, abide and continue in the same state as you started in—the place of complete trust in Jesus and His finished work. Can you believe it? You put all your confidence in that essential truth once, and got saved! You can put all your confidence in that same essential truth again, and come out from under the bondage of condemnation. Is His sacrifice enough? Or must you add to it? Must you add your penance of guilt and shame? If so, how much guilt and shame is appropriate? Who decides? Know this: the Enemy of your soul will always be there to exact enough guilt and shame as to try to separate you from the love of God. But remember Paul’s joy-filled words to the Romans, “For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Rom 8:38
God loves you! His love for you is perfect. The Bible says that perfect love casts out all fear. The more you understand that God’s love for you is perfect already—THAT MEANS COMPLETE, it needs nothing more from you to finish it, you need not fear losing that love. If you do not need to fear losing that love, then you can face anything knowing that “the promises of God are yeah and amen to them that are in Christ Jesus.” That means that the promises that God has given us in the Bible are “yes and so be it” to those of us who belong to Him!
Our Lord is coming back! You can look to his return with joy; you who endure until the end shall be saved. Endure in the same gospel that saved you—“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” (Eph. 2:8).
Read this passage from the JB Phillips Translation in modern English:
“I am always thankful to God for what the gift of his grace in Christ Jesus has meant to you. For, as the Christian message has become established among you, he has enriched your whole lives, from the words on your lips to the understanding in your hearts. And you have been eager to receive his gifts during this time of waiting for his final appearance. He will keep you steadfast in the faith to the end, so that when his day comes you need fear no condemnation God is utterly dependable, and it is he who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ, our Lord” (1Cor. 1:4-9).
Rejoice and be encouraged. God is utterly faithful!
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