Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to Matthew chapter 10, and reading
for our text the latter part of verse 22. Verse 22, But he that endureth
to the end shall be saved. The whole verse reads, And ye
shall be hated of all men, For my name's sake, but he that endureth
to the end shall be saved. That's just the latter part that
is upon my spirit, but if we begin with the but, it draws
in that which goes before. Before we come to actually look
at the words of the text, I do want to look at the context,
the but, that situation in which the people of God are walking,
in which they need to endure, and endure unto the end, and
it is something I wonder how much we really, really consider
today. For the most part, and there
are some of our loved ones that have been born in a time of peace
and freedom of religion, and they have been brought up as
children, they have been brought to the faith, they've joined
the church, they have been brought to their desired haven, and they
have never seen such scenes as have been described here of intense
persecution for the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. And yet there are those, and
we think of the martyrs, we think of others in China, in other
nations, North Korea, that have great persecution. And to openly
confess the Lord Jesus Christ would be, if they were found,
a death warrant. And yet we see coming in our
nation that such a restriction on freedom of speech, such offence
being taken, of certain words being used, that it cannot be
long before the Church is not exempt from it, especially when
the established Church is embracing some of these errors and some
of these things that are really so contrary to our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ. And so to just remind ourselves
of this chapter, to remember what our Lord has said, and really
it is crucial to remember that as in the first part of our text,
you shall be hated of all men for my name's sake. And sometimes you might say,
well, we can see persecution coming because the churches stand
against homosexuals, against the trans lobby, against the
woke, those that will want to use certain phrases or ban certain
phrases, or teaching regarding the man and the woman and marriage
between one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others.
And you might say, well, Will that be really persecution for
the sake of our Lord? Well it's the sake of the teaching
of our Lord. All scripture is given by inspiration
of God and whatever we say and whatever we do and whatever we
act must be according to the scriptures, according to that
which our Lord himself taught when he spoke and was asked concerning
divorce. In the beginning it was not so.
He that created them, male and female, he was the one who said
that, let a man leave his father and mother be joined unto his
wife and they twain shall be one flesh. What therefore God
hath joined together, let not man put asunder. These are the
words of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. And so if we uphold
his word, and we read in the Gospel according to John, I have
given them thy word, and the world hath hated them. And so
you join that with what we have here. Hated are all men for my
name's sake. I have given them my word, and
the world hath hated them. Don't ever let people say, well,
we're not persecuting you for the name of Jesus, but for what
you're teaching and for what you're preaching. But it is the
word of the Lord Jesus Christ. We would remember that our Lord
said that heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall
not pass away. And by my words, thou shalt be
justified. And by thy words, thou shalt
be condemned. And with the heart man believeth,
and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. And when
Peter denied his Lord those three times, it was with his mouth.
It was those things that he said. And so it's not unimportant what
we say or how we structure our words. We are to speak according
to the Scriptures and the words that we say. are to convey distinct
doctrines and ideas and teaching. And if that teaching is contrary
to the world and contrary to those that hate our Lord and
Saviour, Jesus Christ, then the time will come that there is
persecution and there will be those sufferings to those that
will follow the Lord Jesus Christ. And so, rather than being surprised,
rather than thinking, well, what terrible days we are in that
these are coming as a surprise, we should remember the Lord has
forewarned us and has told us of these days. As we said at
the beginning, it has been in God's will that some of his dear
people see none of the persecutions here, and that may be our lot
to a great extent. Others have seen severe persecutions. and others will see a mixture
also in some few years of their life or months of their lives. But for the last 10 or 20 years
we've heard of those who have lost their jobs and we still
do almost every week we read of some that have lost their
teaching job or lost a job somewhere because of the stand that they
made, and it's been based upon the word of God, based upon the
teaching of our Lord. And so, in beginning in this
word, it is to remind ourselves of what the Lord has said, remind
ourselves of the reality of the hatred of the natural man against
the Lord, against his people. Remember, we have this beautiful
link Verse 20, he that receiveth you, receiveth me. And he that
receiveth me, receiveth him that sent me. You think of the most
solemn opposite to that. He that does not receive you
does not receive me. He that does not receive me does
not receive him that sent me. And it is the most solemn thing. And earlier on in this chapter,
shaking off the dust of their feet, a solemn thing to reject
the word of God. And so when we have all of these
things set before us and very real prospect of suffering, that
it does affect our lives. It may affect where we bank. We read of these even recently
that platforms of which have hosted those that have spoke
against these worldly and practices are coming today. People have
complained to their banks and the bank has reacted by sending
them a letter saying in a month's time, we're cancelling your bank
accounts with us. And that firm, that business,
they cannot bank with them. They try to bank with another
bank and every bank they go to says, no, sorry, you can't bank
with us. And that avenue is shut up to
them. you can see a day when it coming with no church is able
to bank with anyone and their interaction with the world and
in the world very much restricted. These days may not be far off
at all and we should really count the cost of being a Christian,
being a follower of the Lord, being of those that pattern our
lives according to the word of God. And we should remember the
most important, vital thing is that which is in our text, to
endure unto the end, still at the end a Christian, still at
the end a believer, still at the end not denying the faith,
still at the end receiving that word, well done, thou good and
faithful servant. And so may we think of the surrounding
context and that which goes before these words, he that endureth
to the end shall be saved, because it's really in the whole context
of all that surrounds our lives. We're not living our lives, enduring
unto the end in a vacuum, or in a beautiful, conducive atmosphere,
but in an atmosphere that is liable to damp to extinguish,
to destroy our faith and our trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now we may say this, that only
those whom God puts in the right way and who gives enduring faith
and grace will ever endure unto the end. This is not in man's
strength all might and ability to be able to keep himself, and
it is good that we really realise that. I always remember an account
of two that were arraigned in the days of the martyrs, and
they were to be brought and pried the following day concerning
their faith, and a very real prospect that they would be burnt
at the stake or tortured. And one of them, they were locked
up together, One, he was so fearful that he would deny his Lord,
that he would not be able to stand the pain nor the persecution
that was coming their way. And he spent the whole night
in prayer and crying to the Lord and begging to be kept and upheld. The other one was so sure of
himself that he would be kept, that he would not deny the Lord. He would stand firm. But as you
can imagine, when it came to the test, when it came to the
torture, when it came to the threat of the fires, it was the
one that had cried to the Lord all the night, that was kept
and was faithful unto death. and the other one denied his
faith and gave up all. How we need to not trust ourselves
and not think, well, if these things come, then we will be
right. No, it's much better to realise
our weakness and to cry unto the Lord and know that the only
way that we shall ever endure unto the end is by the Lord's
grace and by his help. So I want to then look at this
word here, Matthew chapter 10 verse 22, he that endureth to
the end shall be saved. Our text speaks of an end, so
my first point is not going to be an end, it's going to be a
beginning, a right beginning. If there is an end, there must
be a beginning. Then secondly, endurance. in
the way in spite of opposition. And then thirdly, the end, saved. But firstly, a right beginning. How vital that is. John Bunyan, in his Pilgrim's
Progress, he pictures one that was named ignorance. And Christian
and hopeful, they came upon him in the way. And ignorance did
not know the wicked gate. He did not come into the way
through our Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord says that I am the door,
and he is that straight gate. But he tumbled over some other
way, made himself a Christian, decided for Christ. got into
the way just as the form of religion found passing as a Christian
with no real evidence that the Lord had begun with him, rebirth,
that he'd really been converted, that he really knew his sins
and he knew his sins forgiven and pardoned. But you know, however
much Christian and hopeful tried to warn him, tried to say to
him, look, you are not right, you have not got a right beginning. He persevered, he endured until
the end. And then, as Bunyan said, he
found that there was a byway right at the very gate of heaven
into hell. What a solemn thing to be in
a wrong way and the Lord's people perceive it and see it and mourn
and warn and maybe even conscience warns, but there is a pushing
it all aside and a thinking, I'm enduring, I'm enduring unto
the end. Yes, you may be, but enduring
in a wrong way. You take it to the extreme. You
think of one that denies our Lord, that is a complete unbeliever,
and he endures in resisting repentance, resisting the Word of God, resisting
any pains of conscience, and he endures unto the end like
that. What a solemn enduring. And so
what I say in this first point, before we ever think of enduring
in what we are now, in continuing in what we are, ask ourselves,
are we in the right way? Now we might get in our car and
we want to go to a certain destination and we think we've read the road
right and we start to go on the way and we might get a little
niggling thought, maybe I'm on the wrong road. Oh, don't worry,
just persevere. You just drive and you'll get
there. You know, one of our dear brethren, he delivers cars around
the country and He'd put into his sat-nav the postcode that
he thought he was delivering this car, but he'd put a bit
wrong postcode in. And he hadn't looked up the map,
he didn't know, and he was going in complete opposite direction.
And when he got where he thought he was going, and he realised
it wasn't a place, he looked at the map, and I think he was
150 miles away from where he should be, he'd gone the opposite
way. What a solemn thing, to persevere in a way and endure
in that way until you get to the end and then you found out
it was the wrong way. And so our vital right beginning. In John 3, our Lord says, you
must be born again. It must be the Lord beginning
with us. He which hath begun a good work
in you will perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ. I pass by
thee when thou wast in thy blood, and when thou wast in thy blood,
I bid thee live. And the Lord says, I give unto
them eternal life. They shall never perish, neither
shall any man pluck them out of my hand. A life given by the
Lord will endure. A life that has not been given
by the Lord, a life that has just been imitated will not endure,
and that is why the fires. The fire shall try every man's
work of what sort it is. But it is vital to have a right
beginning, and if it's not, in a way it's a blessing if it is
burnt up, and that there is, while there's a day of grace,
again a seeking the right way. In one sense you would say that
Saul of Tarsus began in the wrong way. He began in a religious
way, the way of the Pharisees, walking in the way of the Pharisees.
And the Lord met with him and burnt that up, finished it. He
had to start again as a poor sinner. But then that was the
right way. And that is the way he endured
until the end. We might have begun in a wrong
profession. We might have begun in our own
strength, just a natural religion like the Apostle Paul had. But
the Lord then turned us about and put us in the right way.
And so the first thing, a right beginning. How do we know we
have a right beginning? You know, some will trace their
beginnings to a word from the Lord, perhaps, or something that
they've felt impressed upon them, or from a calendar, or something
like that. But you know, it is vital that there are those things
that accompany salvation. The word speaks of a sinner needing
a savior. The law is a schoolmaster unto
Christ. Those whose ears are open to
the gospel those who are brought to know their own righteousnesses
as filthy rags and need a righteousness that's not their own in the Lord,
those that cannot settle their own debts, those that enter into
the words of the Apostle in Romans 8 at the beginning of that chapter,
But what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the
flesh, God sending his own Son, in the likeness of sinful flesh
and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh. A sinner that cannot,
by own experience, save themselves, cleanse themselves, deliver themselves
from their sin, bring peace and pardon into their souls, and
the Lord does that. He leads them to Christ. He makes
Christ precious. He brings the blessings of peace
and pardon in their souls. And He brings them to trust in
Him. He brings them into the way,
which is the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord said, I am the way,
the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. We must come in through that
door. I am the door. to the sheepfold. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. It is vital that we have a right
beginning in the Lord Jesus Christ. Fleeing to Him, trusting in Him,
resting on Him alone, looking to Him alone. I dare not trust this sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. And a right beginning will
then make sure that there will be a life that is consistent
with that. A life that is regulated by the
Word of God. And as often as we gather together
in the Lord's house, His Word is a lamp unto our feet, a light
unto our path. How many have a name to live,
they have a name of being a Christian. They hardly ever read their Bible. They hardly ever meet with the
Lord's people. And if they do, it'll be with
those of like mind to themselves. Those that hardly ever sit under
a faithful ministry, who tire after a 10 minute sermon, who
do not know what it is to feed upon the word of God. Those who
have no need of mercy, who have no need of forgiveness, who are
righteous in their own eyes. It's a most solemn thing to be
religious, but not have a right beginning. To appear religious
unto men, and those of the scribes and the Pharisees in Christ's
day were just that. May we never deceive ourselves. May we never try to deceive others. May our true desire be that we
have a right beginning that answers to that in the scriptures. So
this then is my first point. If there is to be an end, there
must be a right beginning. And according to our Lord, it
must be through Him and through the straight gate. and into the
narrow way that leadeth unto life, few there be that find
it. Well secondly then, there is
endurance in the way in spite of opposition. What the Lord intends to do with
the opposition And there is opposition. He has said he must, through
much tribulation, enter the kingdom. All the persecutions are set
forth here. The constant adversary of our
own flesh. The Apostle Paul says, the good
that I would, I do not. The evil that I would not, that
I do. O wretched man that I am, who
shall deliver me from this body of death? Opposition from within. a luring world, opposition from
the world, attempting devil, opposition from the devil, so
many things against the people of God. Going to this chapter,
father and mother against them, children against them, own flesh
and blood against them, despising them, hating them. We've known
those that walk this path in their own families. And yet the
Lord intends to show in those things that he will give grace
to help, he will strengthen in that path, and in that path he
will show that their help does come from heaven. It is not in
them, it is in him. Bunyan again, he shows it very
quaintly when he takes his Christian into the Interpreter's House. This is the first part of the
Bunyan Pilgrim's Progress and he was shown a fire in the wall
and someone was getting buckets of water and throwing on that
fire but the fire did not go out. That's like all these persecutions,
all this opposition thrown at the Child of God, thrown at their
profession, thrown at the life of God that is within them. And
Bunyan's Christian, he couldn't work out why. What was the secret? Then he was taken round to the
other side of the wall, hidden from view. And there was oil,
a secret source of fuel being poured on the fire. And that's
why the fire did not go out. I remember years ago, when I
was an apprentice in a hospital over in Australia, and we used
to train the nurses up in firefighting. And we had this tray of oil,
and we lit the tray, and it was all burning. And they had to
use a fire extinguisher to put it out. One particular lady,
she was very pleased with herself. She put this fire out, covered
it with foam, and she turned round, was very pleased with
herself to all of her mates, but they were all laughing because
behind her back one little spark had caught again and it was as
if she had not put a single bit of foam on it. The whole tray
was fully up in flames again. And the Lord is able to kindle
again that which is seemingly extinguished completely in her
soul. There's that fuel that He puts
in and He supplies from heaven. That which the world cannot touch,
a man cannot touch. Remember with Peter, our Lord
said to him, Satan hath desired to have thee, to sift you as
wheat, but I prayed for thee that thy faith fail not. He desires to have all the people
of God, has desired to have you, to sift you. in the plural, everyone. But Peter, it's his time to be
tried, to be tempted, so I prayed for thee in the singular, and
that thy faith fail not. He did deny his Lord, but he
came out the other side of that trial still as a Christian, still
as a believer, still loving the Lord Jesus Christ. He might get
a little sapling, and it's straight up But then the wind comes and
it bows over, right over to the ground even. And you think, well,
it's not upright anymore. But then when the wind stops
and it springs right up again. And many a time in tribulation,
temptation, trials, that is how a Christian feels. They know
not which way they are. But when that is taken away,
then as with Peter, they are found in the right way again. And these trials, these tests,
these things opposite, the fire shall burn up or destroy everything
that is not of the Lord. It burns up the dross, it burns
up all the impurities. It's like the silversmith putting
it in the crucible and all the scum comes to the surface and
that's scraped off and he keeps on doing it. until he can see
his own image in the molten silver. He makes it pure, washed by the
washing of water by the Word. Those trials that work for good,
those trials which then have blessings that come in them,
and the Lord meets us in them, and He blesses us in them. In
my early days, when I was 23, 24 years of age, and teaching
the apprentices after work and had much opposition. They hated
my religion, they baited me, they said many things, many evil
things. And it sent me home many times,
crying to the Lord and feeling that I denied Him, that these
were my students and they were doing this. Until one day as
I stood in front of them and felt I could not hardly proceed
any further, And the Lord dropped in, on their part he is evil
spoken of, but on your part he is glorified." It's very precious,
spoken of. There's a quote from Peter, Epistle
of Peter 1-4, and it is a beautiful word. Those that think it not
strange, it begins, concerning the fiery trial, which is to
try you as some men, the strange thing happened unto
you, but rejoice in as much as ye are partakers of Christ's
sufferings, that when he shall appear, then shall ye appear
with him. And it is in those severe trials
that sometimes the most sweetest, precious blessings can come. and the Lord helps one to continue,
to keep going, and it is to keep going day by day, hour by hour,
month by month, and year by year, still as a Christian, still believing
and trusting in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. He that endureth
unto the end shall be saved, perseveres unto the end, James,
he says, you have heard of the patience, or endurance, can be
translated of Job and the end of the Lord. Satan thought, and
what he thought is true of so many millions, that Job was just
serving the Lord for what he could get from the Lord, his
protection, his care, his riches, all the good things. Satan said,
you touch those things and he'll turn round, he'll curse thee
to thy face. Countless millions would do that.
But Job was a real Christian. He was a real believer in the
Lord. I know, he says, my Redeemer
liveth, and he shall stand upon the earth at the latter time.
He knew of the Lord's resurrection. He knew of his own resurrection,
though after my flesh, skin, worms destroy this body, Yet
in my flesh shall I seek God. He knew those things concerning
our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, though living in the days of
Abraham. Why, our Lord said of Abraham,
he saw my day and rejoiced at it. But Job was brought through
that trial. The latter end of Job was better
than the beginning. Added to that trial was his own
wife's curse, God, and dying. his friends, miserable comforters
they all. And yet he's brought through
all of those things and he still held his faith. Many of us know
those who have started off in the way and something has happened
into their lives and they become offended. Some persecution, something's
happened to one of the Lord's people and they've thought, if
this is what the Lord allows for his people, then I'm having
nothing to do with the religion. And they think that it's proved
to be a farce and proved to be untrue. Those who appear to be
in the way have given everything up. Some have been very, very
prominent authors, Christian authors, influential authors,
and yet they've denied all what they've written, they've denied
their faith, they've turned their back on Christianity completely,
and yet they have been very, very strong. advocates for walking
in certain ways of the Lord. It is a great blessing to be
just a humble believer, not seeking great things for ourselves, but
seeking that we might endure, day by day, still on praying
ground, still believing, still trusting, not deceived by Satan's
lies, not allured by the world, not deceived by our own deceitful
flesh, but holding on our way. The righteous shall hold on his
way. The Lord shall keep the feet
of his saints. None shall pluck them out of
his hand. There is no uncertainty with
the Lord. There's no uncertainty with his
people. But the reality for his people
is walking it out and walking it out in the fear of the Lord.
and seeing the Lord appear for them, and deliver them, and help
them. And sometimes it comes so close,
like dear Peter, to even denying the Lord, but then to weep bitterly,
and to be truly sorry and repentant, and to turn again to the Lord. So endurance in the way. Our
text says, he that endureth, to the end shall be saved. So may we have, as we go on our
way, you might say, not a long view, in one sense we need a
long view, running the race that is set before us, looking unto
Jesus, but in another way, sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. Take no thought for the morrow,
The morrow shall take thought for itself, sufficient unto the
day is the evil thereof. We need to live in the present,
live for present grace, present help for this day, thankful for
the mercies of the day and giving thanks at the close of the day.
Now, of course, there is the other side. where those who just
live for a day as if there is no eternity. That's not what
I'm saying. What I'm saying is that if we
have the Lord to help us, it will be day by day, hour by hour. Don't look for dying grace when
we're not in a dying hour. Don't look for grace to bear
these great temptations in this chapter when we're not in them
at this time. the Lord will give them when
we need them. And if we approve today, tomorrow,
the trial of today, which might be much less than these, but
the Lord has given us grace and help for that trial, and we've
got through it, that he then, he that has helped me, says the
hymn writer, hitherto shall help me all my journey through. So I want to look then lastly
at the end. He that endureth to the end shall
be saved. What one of us can actually say
when that end shall be? What really is meant here is
the end of the fight, the end of the tribulation, really when
this mortal then puts on immortality, this corruption puts on incorruption. Beyond the grave there is no
tempting devil, there's no alluring world, there's no sinful flesh
to contradict us. The fight is this side of the
grave. A deacon in Geelong, spoke of his
mother when she died. Raised herself up in the bed
and took hold of the bedclothes and three times she says, victory,
victory, victory, and then laid down and died. I often thought what a wonderful
thing to feel to virtually have one foot each side of the grave. To feel and realise that we've
obtained that victory. Many times through life we may
have feared that we'd give up all, that Satan and our wicked
heart would triumph, and then to realise at last, heaven. We're just on the borders of
heaven. To look up like dear Stephen
and see the Lord standing at the right hand of God to receive
him. That is the end. But which one
of us knows when that end will be? We do not. We do not know
the day appointed for our death. We do not know that. And so it's
enduring unto a time that we don't know when that time will
be. You know, we might be thinking, well,
In retirement, we're going to live for 20 years, and we've
got so much money in the bank, and if we're going to live, we've
got to have enough money to endure to that length of time. But we
don't know how long we'll have. Many things in life we may lay
up in store, and yet we are planning on a certain time. But if we
don't know the time, But here we need that help for as long
or as short that it might be. That if we live about one year
more, we shall endure until the end, or if we live 20 or 30 years
more. Some of the Lord's dear people,
after profession, they don't live very long at all. Others,
they may live 50, 60 years in the way. Whichever way it is, surely there
is an end, the scriptures say, and thine expectation shall not
be cut off. And it's enduring unto that end
of our earthly pilgrimage, unto that heavenly Canaan, to death
and to triumph over death, that last enemy, and to be gathered
safely above. How vital that we do not come
short. As an engineer, it really struck
me, one time reading of another engineer who had designed a gangplank
for a cruise ship. And they installed this plank,
and they put the plank on, and then the first people all went
across it to go into the cruise ship. But then tragedy happened,
because the engineer had made a mistake, and it wasn't quite
long enough. It didn't quite join onto the
ship. It seemed like it was, but when
it got the way to the people on it, it all collapsed and many
died. To come short and not endure
just by an hour, just by a day, is to come completely short.
You think of an airline pilot who decided he'd got enough fuel
to get from here to Australia, but he got a couple of miles
off the Australian coast and the fuel ran out. Yeah, he'd
already gone 11,000 miles or so. But it wasn't sufficient. It wasn't enough. He needed that
which was to get him right there. How vital. There is not endure
part way, but all the way, right to the end, right through old
age, right through illnesses, right through maybe dementia,
right through much pain and infirmities, or right through persecutions
like this, and even like Stephen, to lose his life for the Lord's
sake. But what a blessed end for the
people of God, an inheritance forever and ever with Christ. to be forever with the Lord,
to see Him as He is, to be in that new heavens and new earth
wherein dwelleth righteousness, an eternal state where there
is none of these oppositions, eternally safe, and with the
Lord Jesus Christ and His dear people, where there is nothing
that shall offend, nothing that shall annoy them or harm their
peace or joy in any way at all. A perfect peace, a perfect joy. The Church of God is not to forget
that end, that hope beyond the grave, that inheritance the Lord
has prepared for them, the mansions the Lord has gone to prepare
for us. Maybe then, have a good beginning,
May we endure day by day and endure unto the end and then
enjoy that blessed bliss in heaven with our Lord, pardoned, forgiven
for every sin, all through the precious blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Through the faith that he has
given us in him, we have endured unto the end. He that endureth
unto the end, shall be saved. May the Lord bless the world.
Amen.