We Will Be Saved "If" We Endure To The End

How do we feel about someone who starts a job but never gets around to completing it? What do we think when a member of the church promises us something, but doesn’t fulfill his or her promise? How do we expect to win the prize, if we quit and fail to cross the finish line?

For some reason, some understand this truth as it applies to our physical world, but seem to think that it does not apply to the eternal realm. We will not receive the crown of life unless we are willing to “endure to the end” (Matthew 24:13) – even in the face of death (Revelation 2:10 NIV).

Paul was confident of his spiritual state when he said, “For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing” (2 Timothy 4:6-8).

The victory crown does not adorn the head of the weak, the indifferent, the worldly minded, or the negligent. It was the Hebrew writer’s prayer, that “we desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end: That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises” (Hebrews 6:11-12 KJV).

Starting the “course” is the easy part – it’s the finishing of that course, the grinding it out when it hurts, the bearing up under sometimes severe trials and tribulations (2 Thessalonians 1:3-4; 1 Peter 1:3-7), the enduring when it seems there is no end in sight — that’s the hard part. Some folks start walking the "narrow way" (Matthew 7:14), but when that way becomes too difficult, like the shallow soil, they quickly fall away (Matthew 13:5-6,21). There is no depth in their commitment to doing the Lord’s will (Matthew 7:21).

Beloved, let us remember that if we do not faithfully “endure to the end” — we will not be saved.

—Mike Riley, Gospel Snippets