May it please Almighty God to
bless us together this evening as we meditate in his word. Let
us turn to the Gospel of Mark, chapter 13, and we'll read verse
13. The Gospel of Mark, chapter 13,
and reading verse 13. And ye shall be hated of all
men for my name's sake. but he that shall endure unto
the end, the same shall be saved. The Word of God really describes
to us that the journey of a child of God, the journey of a Christian
through their life on this earth, will never really be an easy
one. We continually think and assume
that our path is going to get easier and come out of one difficulty
and one trial and one temptation and things will improve. And yet we find that these things
continue in one way and another. And the reality is to the people
of God that this world is not our rest. Indeed, if we read
in Micah, we're told the world is a polluted place. This is
not your rest, it is polluted. And it's very easy to find ourselves
trying to settle down, try and produce things which would always
be more comfortable and help us in our natural lives. And
of course, the Lord is very kind and very gracious, especially
in the age in which we live. And we all possess many natural
comforts for which I'm sure we would be thankful. I hope we're
all very thankful for everything that God has given us. And again,
let us just realize that all the things that you and I have
And you young people, you boys and girls, realize the things
that you have, it's not because you're especially good, it's
not because you're especially clever, it's because God in His
mercy and love has provided these things for you. And we need to
constantly realize that in our lives. It's not our ability that
has produced things, because if you want to analyze that a
bit more carefully, you must understand that, of course, it's
God that has given us the ability. God has given us our mind. God
has given us our brains. You see, we could virtually be
without any natural understanding. So we should not assume it's
because we are clever. or because we have this ability
in this and that. It's because of God's goodness
and it's because of God's mercy toward us. Let us always remember
that. And then we think, therefore,
that perhaps things are going to improve. Well, the word of
God tells us the Lord Jesus, right towards the end of his
life on this earth, He tells the disciples and the people
then, these very simple and straightforward words, it is through much tribulation
that we should inherit the kingdom. And tribulation means much difficulty. And that's what the Lord Jesus
said. And we often perhaps think, well,
it doesn't apply to me, it probably applies to other people. It doesn't apply to me, but it
does apply to all of us and we should not forget that. That's
the pathway of the true child of God. Through much tribulation
we shall inherit the kingdom. And so here we have these words
in this 13th chapter of Mark and in actual fact you can read
the same words in the 24th of Matthew. So these words are not
isolated. They're here to speak to our
hearts and speak to our souls, to remind us that these things
are so and bring us into recognition of our little life on this earth. and therefore not be unduly perturbed,
as we might find things not perhaps working out as we anticipated,
or perhaps as we may have planned. You see, as I've mentioned sometimes
those solemn words in Proverbs, again which was repeated twice,
there is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the ends thereof
are the ways of death. We should not therefore Assume
that, well, this is the right way, I'm pretty sure it is, because
it may not be. And we need to be very careful
how we venture forward. Well, here we have then this
statement, and ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake. And that's quite a dramatic statement,
isn't it? And that's something which perhaps
we don't really want to hear. And yet he tells us, the Lord
speaks, and ye shall be hated. Not just the, well, it's possibly,
you may be, no, the Bible doesn't tell us that. It tells us this,
and ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake. Now, if in our lives we pretend
to be the same as the world, then of course this won't be
so. But if we declare plainly whose
we are and whom we serve, then it will be so. And especially
when we're younger, it's very easy to go along with the crowd
and pretend that we're the same as they are and we enter into
the things that they speak about and talk about, rather than turning
away from conversation which is not good and not profitable. And the sad thing is, in our
nature, is that very often the good things we forget, but the
bad things we remember. I remember still when I was,
especially a teenager, the Bible speaks about the slippery paths
of youth. It's a very able and apt statement. I remember when I was a teenager
listening to jokes being told, and of course everybody laughed
and thought they were great, but in actual fact they leave
a mark, you know. And you can't just wipe them
out of your mind. You'll find sometimes they come
back. And you're reminded of those
situations. And it will make you hopefully
sorry that you even listened, rather than turning away and
rather going away. But that's the problem, you see,
you and I possess an old nature, a sinful nature, a nature which
goes after these things. And so, you see, if we do turn
away from them, then perhaps we'll be criticised and perhaps
we'll be ridiculed. But what a blessing to have the
approbation of God upon our actions. That's what we should be concerned
about, having God's approbation and not man's approbation. The
tendency is for us to want man's approbation and to not worry
about God's. approbation and so the word tells
us here and you shall be hated of all men for my name's sake
and we should not think therefore that such a statement is a well
it's a bit strong and it's a i'm not sure if it's really true
well it is true because it's the word of god we should recognize
the significance of it. So, and ye shall be hated of
all men for my name's sake. But then the Lord goes on to
encourage us, and this is what he says, but he that shall endure
unto the end, the same shall be saved. Now I hope it is the
concern of every one of us that our souls are saved. That's what this is really referring
to. Our never-dying souls, to be
eternally safe, eternally saved. And therefore these words then,
you see, will be true. But he that should endure unto
the end, the same shall be said." What it means is that our life
is really one of endurance. It's not an easy life. It's a
life of endurance. And as we think of such a statement,
we should realise The Lord speaks in a number of places about being
in this position of endurance. When he wrote, when Paul wrote
to Timothy, his son in the faith, he tells us this, he says, in
the second letter, in the second chapter, in the beginning, thou
therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ
Jesus. That's a good word, isn't it?
Because the grace that is in Christ Jesus is the unmerited
favor which God gives to his people, to his church. Thou therefore,
my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And
the things that thou hast heard of me amongst many witnesses,
the same commit thou to faithful men who shall be able to teach
others also. He wanted the message to be transferred. He wanted people to declare it.
He wanted those who he called to declare the great and glorious
truths and not to hide them and not to keep them close. It's
very easy, you see, to hide the great truths of God. It's very
difficult, perhaps, to be bold in this evil day in which we
live, in a day of ridicule, in a day of animosity, in a day
of true hatred. to the things of God, and it's
getting worse and worse. I'll come back to that in a moment.
And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses,
the same commit thou to faithful men who shall be able to teach
others also. Thou therefore endure hardness
as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. The picture here is a very apt
picture. It's one of warfare. And the
Christian life is one of warfare. It is a spiritual battle as you
and I travel through this world. And the enemy, the enemy which
you and I face continually, is an enemy who is always awake,
never sleeps. And that's the devil. And he's
always looking to find when our guard is down, when we perhaps
put our sword up. You might say, well what does
that mean? I'll tell you what it means. The Bible describes the Word
of God as the sword. If you and I don't read the Word
of God, if you and I are not familiar with the Word of God,
we've effectively put our sword up. And therefore we're very
easy to be conquered by the devil because don't forget that Lord
Jesus Christ after he was baptized tempted the devil and what did
he do when the devil tempted him he answered the devil with
scripture that's a good place it's a very safe place and the
devil won't be able to counter that because he knows the Bible
is true but if you and I don't know the Bible we can't tell
the devil can we So do be mindful of the truth
in scripture. Do read the Bible and be equipped
with this wonderful favour. And so remember, thou therefore
endure hardness. The clear inference is that you
and I will have hardness to endure, and we are to endure it as a
good soldier of Jesus Christ. And he goes on, and he says,
No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this
life, that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. Now that's not easy of course
in the age in which we live in a very material world with so
many things to tempt us and so many things to turn us away from
the things of God and many things that may appear to be very legitimate
and very suitable and yet we have to be very aware that they
don't entangle us to such a degree that we are overcome by the cunning
strikes of the devil. No man that woreth in telling
of himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please
him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. So there we are, enduring
hardness. And then I wanted to just mention
the first couple of verses in the 12th chapter in the epistle
of Paul to the Hebrews. And you may remember, of course,
as I'm sure you all understand, it follows chapter 11. And chapter
11 is a wonderful chapter telling us about many of the saints of
God who were blessed with wonderful faith to do amazing exploits. And they weren't able to do it
in and of themselves, it was through the faith of God. And
so we come down to this twelfth chapter and we read this. Wherefore,
because of what's gone before, wherefore we also are compassed
about with so great a cloud of witnesses. Let us lay aside every
weight, and the sin that doth so easily beset us and let us
run with patience the race that is set before us. And again,
the picture here is of someone running. Well, I'm sure you all
know what athletes are when they run. They don't put big weights
on their backs, do they? Or tie their legs down or wear
heavy boots. They run as light as possible. There's nothing to hinder them.
in their race. And that's why the Bible tells
us here to lay aside every weight and the sin it does so easily
beset us. You see, it's very easy to make
excuses. It's very easy to say, well,
of course, that's my besetting sin. It's a phrase which is used
sadly to excuse people, but it's no excuse really. Because if
you and I have besetting sins, we should endeavor to seek to
God that he will enable us to turn away from them and not to
follow them. And so here we have this statement. Let us lay aside every weight,
not just one or two. Perhaps you might pick up a couple
of little weights and think, well, I'll get rid of those.
But there's a big weight you're still carrying. And you know
what the effect is, if you and I carry weights naturally running,
what does it do? It slows you down. The more weight, the slower you
run. The more exhausted you get. And
so it is in spiritual things. The more things in the world
you carry, the more burdensome it becomes. And the slower progress
you make in the things of God. He tells us that, well, let us
run with patience. The race to glory is a difficult
race. There's many obstacles. The devil
puts many obstacles, stumbling blocks in the way to try and
trip us up. And he makes things look really
attractive. And he makes things appear very
easy. And therefore it's a great temptation to hear what he says
and to go along that way. Well, that's why we, you and
I need patience. to press on and patience to continue. But having given us that good
advice to start with, now he comes to the wonderful statement. He says, looking unto Jesus. That's how you and I are to run
the race, looking unto Jesus. And we're told this, who is the
author and the finisher of our faith. In that 11th chapter,
you read all about the faith given to those worthies before. It was God-given faith. And they, by faith, were looking
unto Jesus. Looking unto Jesus, the author.
He was the one who gave it. He was the one who began it.
The author. And it's the same today in our
lives. God gives us faith. There's a
beginning. Oh, what a wonderful it is if
we have a beginning of faith to believe in the truth of God's
word, to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. And what a good
thing that is if you and I examine ourselves to discern that God
has given us faith to believe, faith to believe the gospel.
It's a precious gift. It's a glorious gift. It's an
essential gift because without faith, it is impossible to please
God. So every one of us needs God-given
faith. And so here we have this statement,
looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith. God never takes away that faith. He gives us living faith and
we possess living faith to press on, press on through life with
that faith, never forgetting that faith is to be found looking
unto Jesus. And then we're told about the
blessed Saviour. And it's wonderful that we have
such statements to encourage us. Who for the joy, the joy,
just note that, who for the joy, not sadness, not sorrow, who
for the joy that was set before Him endured. Endured what? Endured the cross,
my friends. Well, do you and I have to endure
the cross? The answer is no. We may have
to endure many things, but we have this wonderful example of
the Lord Jesus Christ, who, for the joy that was set before Him,
endured the cross, despising the shame. Yes, He was, it would
appear, hung on that cross in a naked condition, What shame
there was, but he endured it. He endured it. And he sat down at the right
hand of the throne of God. Yes, he was the conqueror. He endured it. And it's the same,
my friends, with the church of God. We're called upon to endure. But there is an end. There is
a glorious victory. to look forward to, when, by
the grace of God, we shall be with Him in glory. And so, enduring
the cross, despising the shame, is set down at the right hand
of the throne of God. And so, what does the Apostle
then go on to say? For, consider Him. The blessing
is this. If you and I think, This path's
very hard. This is very difficult to endure
this path. It may be. To give a right balance,
this is what we are to do. Consider Him. Consider the Saviour. Consider the Lord Jesus Christ.
That endured again. Endured. He didn't give it up. He did ask his father, if it
be possible, let this cup pass from me, but nevertheless, not
my will, but thine be done. And it may be so in our life,
I don't know. You may have something which
is very difficult and very hard to bear, and you may say, oh,
let this pass from me. But the instruction is, as the
Saviour sets before us, nevertheless not my will but thine be done. And it was the will of the Father
that His only begotten Son should suffer and should die, and through
that He should save His people from their sins. He that endures
unto the end the same shall be saved. Without the wonderful
work of the Saviour, we would never be saved. So we should
be so thankful. We should indeed praise our God
for what He endured. This does put a really good balance
on things, doesn't it? It shows us the vast difference
really between the things of time and the things of eternity. And so, for consider him that
endured such contradictions of sinners against himself, lest
ye be wearied and faint in your minds." You may be wearied. You may be ready to faint. Look
to Jesus. That's the secret. The Lord gives
strength. The Lord helps us. And it's a
wonderful privilege to think that the Lord has gloriously
died to save us, unworthy sinners. And it is our privilege indeed,
as we walk through this world, to remember and to consider him. Well, what a mercy, lest ye be
wearied and faint in your minds. And so we have this statement
here. But he that shall endure unto
the end shall be saved. The most important thing in our
lives is that you and I are saved. Saved. What a blessing to know
that our souls are safe. And that means the devil cannot
pluck us out to be safe. It's a wonderful, blessed favour
to know that we have this glorious God. who is so kind and so gracious. You know, we refer to that 11th
chapter in Hebrews, and of course it is a very wonderful chapter. You may remember it mentions
God's servant Moses. And what do we read about Moses? Well, we're told this is what
he did. By faith, Moses, when he was
come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter.
He had a very comfortable existence, didn't he, in the palace of Pharaoh. No doubt servants would look
after him, do everything he needed, and wonderful food, and look
down upon, and now here he is. were told, refused to be called
the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction
with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for
a season, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than
the treasures in Egypt. They're very strong words, aren't
they? And you know, we probably read these many times and don't
quite understand the depth of them. Esteeming the reproach
of Christ, and that's not easy, reproach of Christ to bear and
to endure, and yet he tells us, esteeming the reproach of Christ,
greater riches and the treasures in Egypt. He compared the two. And the reproach of Christ was
a much greater blessing than all the riches that he had enjoyed
in Egypt. And we're told, for he had respect
unto the recompense of the reward. The recompense of the reward
was, of course, eternal glory after he finished his life on
this earth. eternal glory. And again, it's
a great blessing, isn't it, to have a comparison between the
things of time and the things of eternity. And so often, of
course, we fail to realise the difference in value. One is basically
valueless, the things of time. The things of eternity are of
great value. And so we're told here about
the apostle had respect, sorry, Moses had respect under the recompense
of the reward. And by faith, he forsook Egypt,
not fearing the wrath of the king for he Endured. Here we are. Here's his word,
you see. He endured. How? As seeing him who is invisible. Yes, by faith, he looked to the
saviour. And that's the secret again,
isn't it? That's how you and I are going to journey on if
we are truly people of God. It's to have that faith that
seeing him who is invisible, and of course you can follow
on and realize by faith what he did, the one who was instrumental
in introducing the Passover. the one who was used to lead
Israel across the Red Sea, the one who was instrumental in giving
the directions for the erection of the tabernacle and all that
he signified. All those things he did by faith. What a blessing then to have
such a God and to have such a wonderful and glorious picture as that. Well, may the Lord indeed Encourage
us. You see, there are many texts
and many verses in the Word of God to encourage us as you and
I travel on through life. Many, many things there are. We should be very, very thankful
for it. The Apostle Paul knew something
about what it was to endure. I'm sure you understand that
if you think how many difficulties Paul had to face as he journeyed
through life. But he tells us, as he wrote
to the Corinthians in the 2nd epistle and the 4th chapter,
he says in the 15th verse, for all things are for your sakes
that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many
redound to the glory of God, for which cause we faint not. But though our outward man perish,
yet the inward man is renewed day by day." Again, the difference
between our natural body and our spiritual body. The natural
man perishing, We faint not, though our outward man perish,
yet the inward man is renewed day by day. Then he gives us
this picture. For our light affliction, which
is but for a moment, work is for us a far more exceeding and
eternal weight of glory. While we look not at the things
which are seen, but of things which are not seen. For the things
which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not
seen are eternal." He draws the analogy between time things and
heavenly things. The analogy is this, the things
of this earth and all the afflictions that it contains are very light. Not heavy at all, they're very
light. And yet you see there is the eternal weight of glory,
and that's very heavy. So put those two things in the
scales. On one side, the weight of glory. On the other side, the light
afflictions of time. The weight of glory is so much
heavier. and the light affliction. That's
how the apostle viewed it. What a good thing it is for you
and me to view it in a same way, for our light affliction. He doesn't isolate it to just
himself. He speaks to the Corinthians
and of course he speaks to the whole Church of God, so it includes
you and me today. For our light affliction, which
is but for a moment passing Fed away. Doesn't matter if it lasts
for quite a few years. It's gone. It passes away. But eternal realities are what
they say. Eternal. They never pass away. Wonderful illustration isn't
it? Our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for
us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. And then you
know The psalmist speaks to us and well there's so many great
truths aren't there in the Psalms but just one very simple one
and that's in the 126th Psalm and the fifth verse. Well perhaps
we'll read a bit earlier. When the Lord turned again in
the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream. Them was
our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing.
Then said they among the heathen, the Lord hath done great things
for them. The Lord hath done great things
for us, whereof we are glad. Turn, excuse me. Turn again our captivity, O Lord,
as the streams in the south. And he says this, They that sow
in tears shall reap in joy. The difficulty of the path may
produce tears. There may be sowing in tears,
but there will be a reaping. And that reaping will be in joy.
because of the grace given by Almighty God. And so the psalmist
goes on, the last verse, he that goes forth and weepeth bearing
precious seed shall doubtless come again with rejoicing bringing
his sheaves with him. wonderful promises of God, aren't
they? Good to lay hold of and good
to thank God for. But he that shall endure unto
the end, the same shall be saved. I just wanted to mention, as
I said earlier, come back to the reality is that we find ourselves
living in this year 2021, and many, many years, of course,
since these words were written, these words were spoken. But
what is very clear is this. We live in a time which is getting
rapidly more difficult for the Church of God, and especially
for you younger ones. who have, naturally speaking,
your life ahead of you. Those of us who are older can
look back in our short life and see the dramatic change which
has occurred. The dramatic change in the freedom
of religion and you look around the world and there are so many
places now where there is great opposition and the scene is tightening
up in most countries. And if you look at our own nation,
we can see that every effort being made to bring about and
legalize things which are against the Word of God, those things
which are pleasing to natural man, but not pleasing to Almighty
God. Well, we don't know, of course,
how long this world has got to run But one thing is very clear,
the time is short. And you younger ones, we all
may be, we don't know when the Lord will return. One thing we
do know, He will come And we are told when he comes, the question
was, shall he find faith on the earth? It would appear that things
are to get worse and worse, and perhaps rapidly worse and worse. You may find young people very
difficult to live in this world as a Christian person. There
have been many, of course, in other countries who have been
imprisoned for their faith. Well, we can be thankful to God
that thus far we haven't, but yet the time is hastening on
when perhaps that will come when we stand for the truth, we declare
what the Word of God says, and we may be forbidden to speak
the truth of the Word of God. It's not far from the doors,
you know, You know, you might think, well, it's easy. Well,
it may be, but things can rapidly change. The enemy is on the rampage,
trying to make inroads into the Christian faith. My friends,
let us be on our watch and let us pray mightily unto our God
that we may be kept as a nation from descending into really anarchy
against the truth of God's Word. We read, didn't we, together
some of these truths. And he says, For in those days
shall be affliction such as were not from the beginning of the
creation, which God created unto this time, neither shall be. This is not some thought up statement,
it's the word of God. And except the Lord had shortened
those days, no flesh shall be saved. And here we have this
word, shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. And
then if any man shall say to you, no, here is Christ, or though
he is there, believe him not. For false Christs and false prophets
shall rise, and that's evident today. We see in Christendom
false Christs, false prophets, pretending that this is the true
gospel, and this is how you should believe, and this is how you
should react, and shall show signs and wonders to seduce if
it were possible, even the elect. But take ye heed. Behold, I have foretold you all
things." It's a great blessing to have the Word of God. The
Lord tells us here, He has foretold us. Don't therefore think, well,
this will come upon us. We never expected it. You may
not have done, but the Word of God has warned us it will come
to pass. But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall
be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars
of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall
be shaken. And then shall they see the Son
of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory." Well,
that's an amazing and wonderful occasion for the Church of God. It's a most terrible occasion
for those who are not believers who are not true children of
God, who are not those who are enduring unto the end. And then
shall he send his angels, and shall gather together his elect
from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to
the uttermost part of heaven. Now learn a parable of fig tree. When a branch is yet tender and
put it forth leaves, ye know that summer is near. So ye, in
like manner, When ye shall see these things come to pass, know
that it is nigh even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, that this
generation shall not pass, let all these things be done. Heaven
and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. But of that day and that hour
knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither
the sun, but the Father. So he says, Take ye heed, take
ye heed, watch and pray, for ye know not when the time is. For the Son of Man is as a man
taking a far journey, who left his house and gave authority
to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the
porter to watch, Watch ye therefore, for ye know not, when the master
of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or in the crowing,
or in the morning, lest, coming suddenly, he find you sleeping. And what I say unto you, I say
unto all, Watch. Amen.