Turn with me, if you would, back
to Matthew chapter 10. I mentioned to you Sunday morning
that we may come back and look at certain things that our Lord
said right here in more detail. We looked at everything that
he said in these remaining verses Sunday night, last Sunday night. But tonight I wanna come back
and look at one particular verse. And we may do this, if the Lord
is willing, we may do that Sunday as well. This one line caught
my attention. This just blessed me so much,
just thinking about this one line. I want us to consider this
subject for just a minute tonight. Look with me at the end of verse
22, it says, But he that endureth to the end
shall be saved. He that endureth to the end shall
be saved. And that he includes she's she
that endureth to the end shall be saved. I want us to look at
the subject of enduring to the end. Enduring to the end. Doesn't that sound wonderful? Doesn't that sound happy? You
know, we're marching to Zion, the beautiful city of God, face
to face with Christ, my savior, that'll be glory for me. So that just rest, just rest,
restful, enduring. To the end, the end, which as
we all know is really the beginning, the end of this, the beginning of
that. But wouldn't you be so grateful,
honestly, knowing how many people their sin gets the best of them
and they fall away. It amazes me how many preachers
who were once considered gospel preachers, not only do they not
preach the gospel anymore, they don't even attend anywhere. That's
fearful to me. We don't assume on any of this.
And how many people once sat under the truth, some for decades,
and then there's just no heart anymore. Wouldn't you be so grateful
if it was said of you He endured to the end. She endured to the
end. I promise you, we take things,
we've taken all this for granted. We assume on the Lord's mercy
and grace. I do, I'm speaking against myself,
but I just naturally assume that I'm gonna preach the cross of
Jesus Christ for the rest of my life. Oh Lord, please let
it be so. Let me not assume on your spirit,
your blessing, how glorious would it be if it was said that we
endured to the end, we have some dear brethren who have gone before
us, gone on to glory before us and based on their profession
and based on the evidence of their faith and the evidence
of their hope and the evidence of their love. We can say, and
we do say they endured to the end. They endured the trials. They endured the persecutions.
They endured the joys. They endured the rewards. They
endured the labor of life and time. Life is a labor and time
is a labor. They endured the responsibility
of it. They endured the work of it.
They endured the stress of it. All saints have gone through
the same thing. All saints have gone through
life overwhelmed, thinking how much longer? They endured the willingness
of it. Don't you feel a willingness
in you to be what the Lord has called you to be a husband, wife,
parent, child, saint, member, whatever it is. They endured the love of it.
Things can be difficult, but there can be a lot of love involved.
However you want to say it, however you want to look at it, how glorious
is it to say they endured to the end, all the way to the end. They made it all the way to the
end and all their labor is now over. And they can rest. They honestly
can rest. I want that to be said about
us. I sincerely do. Every soul here, Kingsport Sovereign
Grace Church, every soul here. I want it to be said, they labored
to the end. I don't want anybody to leave.
I'll just go ahead and make that known. I don't want anybody to
leave, starting with me. They endured to the end. I pray
that might be said. Now, for this message, the first
thing I wanna consider is, What really is the end? We say they
endured to the end. What are we trying to get to?
What really are we trying to get to? The apostle Paul stated
that answer pretty well. Turn with me, if you would, to
Philippians chapter three. Philippians three, verse seven. He said, but what things were
gained to me, those I counted loss for Christ. He is the end. He is the goal. He is the prize. Verse eight
says, yea, doubtless. And I count all things, but loss. For the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss
of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ
and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which
is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ.
The righteousness, which is of God by faith. That means God
does it. God gives it. God causes it. God is the object of it. Verse
10 says that I may know him. and the power of His resurrection
and the fellowship of His sufferings being made conformable unto His
death, if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection
of the dead." He said, I want to know Him. And I want to know the power
of His resurrection. I want to know the fellowship
of His sufferings. I want to be made conformable
to His death so that I can Obtained the resurrection of
his life. He is the end. He is the goal. He is the price
having him being with him. Just being with him. You know,
the, the apostles were with him for three and a half years for
three and a half years, they were in heaven. They had him. And I know that they were in
this simple flesh and now They have endured to the end, and
they're over all these things, but they were. They had Him. Having Him is having everything.
He is what we are hoping to endure to. He is. So here's what we're
gonna consider tonight. How do we do that? How do we
endure to the end? I'm gonna give us the answer.
And then I'm gonna give us what the scripture says is the evidence
of the answer. When I say, how do we endure
to the end? God's sheep already know the
answer. So I'm gonna just tell us the answer. And then I'm gonna
give us what the scripture says is the evidence of the answer.
Okay, here's the answer. Put a marker in your Bible in
Philippians. We're gonna come back to Philippians three a little
bit. But Philippians three, look at chapter one. Philippians 1 verse 6 says, being confident of this very
thing that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform
it until the day of Jesus Christ. If we are going to endure to
the end, God is going to have to do that for us. He's gonna
have to do that work for us. He's gonna have to start the
work. He's gonna have to perform the work. He's gonna have to
finish the work. God is going to have to keep
us all the way to the end. If we are going to endure, here's
the only answer. If we're going to endure, He,
God, Father, Son, and Spirit, He is gonna have to choose us And He's gonna have to lay hold
of us in our sin and in our shame and in our rebellion against
Him. And He is gonna have to plunge us in the blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior. He's gonna have to wash us from
all of our sin. And then He is gonna have to
call us by His Spirit. And He's gonna have to draw us
near to Himself. And he's going to have to keep
us right there and not let us go. That's what's going to have
to happen. That's the only way that a center can endure to the
end is if God does all of that and keeps him right there. God
is going to have to do it. He is going to have to endure
us endure. for us. If he does not choose
us, if he doesn't wash us, if he doesn't call us, if he doesn't
keep us, we're not going to be kept. Peter said we're kept only
by the power of God. That's it. We have to be kept
by the power of God because there's nothing in this sinful flesh
that has the ability to keep itself in endurance to Christ. There is nothing in this sinful
flesh. Well, if you're going to endure
now, you have to obey the 10 commandments and you have to, there is nothing
in this sinful flesh that will keep us in endurance to Christ. All that this sinful flesh can
do is wonder. And we just need to remember
that prone to wander away. Lord, I feel it prone to wander
away. I feel it in my flesh. So if we endure, that's God's
doing, he gets the credit. He gets the glory. Now, if God
does that for us, if he causes us to endure, what will the evidence
of that be? If God does that. What will the
evidence of that be? I wanna give us some evidences
here. And as I give these to us, I
want to encourage us and I want to exhort us to do these things,
okay? What I'm about to show us is
God's doing. I wanna establish this. I wanna,
let me make this really clear. What I'm about to show us is
God's doing. God has to do this. But he accomplishes
this for his people through the means of encouraging them to
it in his word. He shows them in the word, he
speaks to their heart and he exhorts them. He gives his people
faith to believe what he says. He gives them a heart to strive
to endure in it. So if God gives us a heart to
endure in these things, then We will have a heart to endure
in these things. Does that make sense? If God does that, we'll
have a heart for it. He'll make us willing in the
day of his power. So what are God's people enduring in? If he causes us to endure, what
do we endure in? Let me give us three things.
The first one is back in Philippians chapter three. Philippians 3, the end of verse 8, Paul said, that I may win Christ, verse
9 says, and be found in Him. When God gives endurance to His
people, they endure in Christ. They endure in Christ. It is
Christ. Their life is Christ. You don't have to try to convince
them to make Christ their life. Their life is Christ. Their hope is Christ. It's all about Christ. Everything to them can be summed
up in one word. Christ, here's my answer. Christ,
that's it. Christ, that's all. Look with
me if you would at first Timothy chapter one. First Timothy 1 verse 3 says,
as I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, when I went into
Macedonia, that thou mightest charge some that they teach no
other doctrine. Don't teach any other doctrine.
He's saying, but the word that has been given neither give heed
to fables and endless genealogies. which minister questions rather
than godly edifying, which is in the faith, so do. He said, don't give heed to fables
and endless genealogies and all those things. Now the end of
the commandment is charity or love out of a pure heart and
of a good conscience and a faith unfeigned from which some having
swerved have turned aside unto vain jangling Desiring to be
teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor whereof
they affirm. They desire to teach the law
and they desire all of these vain janglings that men come
up with. And he said, they don't even
know what they're talking about. And he said, don't get caught up
in all that. Just don't get caught up in all that. Look at Titus
chapter three. Verse eight, Titus chapter three,
verse eight. He said, this is a faithful saying,
and these things I will that thou affirm constantly that they
which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable
unto men, but avoid foolish questions and genealogies and contentions
and strivings about the law. They're unprofitable in their
vein. What are good works? The works
of God are good works. The works of God, the works of
the law are condemning works to damnation, but the works of
God are good works. In John chapter six, some men
came to the Lord one time and they said, what shall we do that
we might work the works of God? And the Lord Jesus answered them.
He said, this is the work of God that you believe on him whom
he sent. The answer was Christ. The answer is always Christ. It's just Christ. The evidence
of enduring. The evidence of endurance, and
I want to exhort This is God's doing. This is the evidence,
but I want to exhort all of us to endure in this. Let's all
endure in Christ. The evidence of endurance is
enduring in Christ. Let's all be firm. Christ alone is Christ alone. Look with me at Hebrews 12. Verse one says, wherefore seeing
we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses,
let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily
beset us and let us run with patience. Run. I love that. Run with patience. the race that is set before us, looking unto the Lord Jesus Christ,
the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was
set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set
down at the right hand of the throne of God. Doesn't that,
that brings focus back to me every time Every time I think about the
race set before us, you just keep looking to Christ. You just
keep looking to Christ. You just keep looking to Christ.
If we endure, we will endure in Christ. It'll be Christ and
nothing else. It won't be, well, You know,
what about, don't I have to, it'll be Christ. That's it. Christ
period. Okay. Here's the second thing
quickly. I'll be quick. Turn to first
Corinthians nine first Corinthians chapter nine.
If we endure, we will endure in Christ. Did I say 2 Corinthians? First,
1 Corinthians 9. That's where I want you to go.
1 Corinthians 9. Okay, 1 Corinthians 9, verse 16. The apostle Paul
said, for though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory
of, for necessity is laid upon me. Yea, woe is unto me, if I
preach not the gospel. Paul said, I must preach and
we all must hear the gospel. We must. He said, woe is unto
me if I don't preach the gospel. And for all of God's people,
woe is unto us if we do not hear the gospel. We must look at verse
24 right here. Paul said, no, ye not that they,
which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize. So run that you may obtain. He said in a race, one receives
the prize run that way, run this race that way. Verse 25, every
man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now
they do it to obtain a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly,
so fight I, not as one that beat at the air. He said, I'm not
just shadow boxing, but I keep under my body and bring it into
subjection, lest by any means, when I've preached to others,
I myself should be a castaway. He said, I'm not playing games.
I'm not going through the motions. I must endure in the gospel and
in the ministry of the gospel, we must endure. If we endure,
we will endure in the gospel and in the ministry of the gospel.
I love this. Luke said in chapter one, verse
one, he said, for as much as many have taken in hand, to set
forth in order a declaration of those things which are most
surely believed among us." He said, I have to do the same thing.
And all of God's people do the same thing. We must endure in
the gospel and in the ministry of the gospel. Don't turn to this. Second Corinthians
four says, seeing we have this ministry, we faint not. This ministry has been given
to all of us, and we don't faint. We just don't
faint. We want to. We all want to, but
the Lord keeps us. We don't draw back. We keep going. That's His doing. That really
is His doing. It's not to our credit, it's
to His credit. That's His work in us, but we
keep going. If we endure, we will keep going. We'll keep going. And we won't
try to take the credit for it. We won't be lifted up in pride
over it, but we'll keep going. Look with me at Philippians 3
again. Verse 12 says, not as though
I had already attained, either were already perfect, but I follow
after if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended
of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself
to have apprehended, but this one thing I do. And here's what
he's saying. I didn't apprehend him. He apprehended me. But because
he did, it's caused me to do this one thing. Verse 13 goes
on to say, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching
forth unto those things which are before I press toward the
mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. I want to exhort all of us. I
very, very strongly want to exhort all of us to strive to endure. Paul said, press toward the mark,
press toward the mark. When you feel that resistance,
press toward the mark. When you feel everything just
try to veil over you, press toward the mark, press through it. Our Lord said in Matthew 11,
he said, the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence and the violent
take it by force. And what that means is just like
Jacob, they say, God's people say, I cannot let you go unless
you bless me. I just can't. Now we know that
Jacob didn't have any control over God, but that's the heart
the Lord put in him. If a center says that that's
the evidence that he's already been blessed, but The child of
God will say it. So if we endure, we're going
to endure in Christ. We will endure in the gospel
of Christ and the ministry of Christ. And here's the last thing,
all right? They're really all the same thing, but turn with
me to Hebrews 10. Hebrews 10. Verse 19 says, having therefore brethren boldness
to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by new and
living way, which he hath consecrated for us through the veil, that
is to say his flesh, because he paid the debt and opened up
the veil, the way to God and all of God's people can now freely
walk through and boldly walk through. Verse 21, and having
a high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with
a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled
from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering
for He is faithful that promised, and let us consider one another
to provoke unto love and good works, not forsaking the assembling
of ourselves together, as the manner of some is, but exhorting
one another, and so much the more as you see the day approaching. I want to strongly encourage
us. I told you that everything that we were going to look at
was God's doing. But I want to exhort us through
this means he has given of declaring his truth. I want to exhort us
and encourage us to endure in the fellowship of the saints. I want to strongly encourage
us to make every effort that we can to gather every time God's
people meet. Now, sickness is all over this
world. Quarantines are all over this
world. I'm not talking about that. We have so many brethren
who are not here right now. I'm not talking about that. People
go on vacation. I'm not talking about that. People
have to work. I'm not talking about that. prone to wander, Lord, I feel
it. And I know you do too. I know
that you feel the struggle to endure. I know you feel the struggle
to keep going. I know you do. I wanna strongly
encourage us for our own sake. There was a time in my life when
I would come to something like this, it worried me thinking,
oh, I'm gonna upset everybody and they're gonna think I'm trying
to get them to come and listen to me preach. I don't think that
anymore. This is, we need this so badly. We need this so badly. I need this so badly. I want
to really, really encourage us to understand the absolute need
of gathering with the saints, remaining Christ alone, Christ
alone, hearing the gospel, supporting the ministry, gathering with
the fellowship of the saints. May God cause us to endure in
that. If we do, let's not take in,
let's not be lifted up in pride over that. But may He cause us
to endure in that. May He allow us the privilege
of not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the
manner of some is. May He give us a heart that desires
being with God's people. I love by His grace, just being
with God's people, gathering together. You know, I say that
for two reasons. Number one, from the ministry's
point of view. Ministries come and ministries
go. The Lord raises them up and he tears them down. He has always
done that. And from the ministry's point
of view, if, you know, if I say, if I get it in my mind that,
well, they don't need me there. I don't, I don't necessarily
need to be, I mean, who am I? People don't even pay attention
to me. You know, I'll catch up. I'll listen to the message later.
I'll just... That is contagious. And when
one does it, somebody else will say, well, if they can do it,
I'll do it too. They don't need me there. God's people need each other.
We need each other. I mean, we really do. We're in
the ministry and this is it. This is the only ministry that
there is in the ministry. This is it. If we want to know
what is the ministry, it's this. The message calls people into
the fold, the fellowship of the saints. And before long, I've
seen it happen. 30, 40, 50 people. All start saying, it's all right,
they don't need me there. I just sit in the back anyway.
The next thing you know, you don't have a ministry anymore. And the Lord, seeing we have been
given this ministry, God gave us one. Let's fight to protect
it. Let's let's be here for the brethren,
for the ministry. Let's encourage each other and
gather with the saints. I'm telling you, when Any soul
walks through that door, they've just entered the ministry. They've just encouraged the saints.
They've just gathered together as one body with one heart, one
mind, one soul, one spirit, enduring together, going through hardships
out there. individually and enduring together
in here. I want to exhort all of us to
assemble for the brethren's sake, assemble for the ministry's sake,
but more so than that, from an individual point of view, I know
something of sin. I am well acquainted with sin. And if you give sinful flesh
an inch, it will take a mile. It will take a mile. I know something
of myself. I know something of this. If
it ever creeps into our minds that it's okay to make that conscious
choice to not assemble, well, it's okay. I'm just not going
to assemble. We will run with that. And it'll get worse and worse. It will get worse and worse.
We are so prone to wander. We're so prone to wander. Fight
it. Fight it. I can't keep myself. God's gonna have to keep me.
That's right. Start begging, Lord, please keep
me. Don't let me get lulled into
my lukewarm okayness with everything. Lord, keep me, put something
in me, press against it, suffer violently against it. Let's endure. Let's endure together. Lord,
let us endure together. If we endure, God will get the
glory for it. But let's beg Him to cause us
to endure because He that endures to the end. Lord, please don't
let me go till I'm gone. Keep me. Because he that endures
to the end in Christ, he that endures to the end in the gospel,
he that endures to the end in the fellowship of the saints
shall be saved. Saved. Lord, save us. Show this evidence in me, please. Show this evidence in us. Save
us, Lord. Keep us, Lord. Oh, keep us cleaving. to thyself and still believing
till the hour of our receiving promised joys from thee. May
the Lord do that for us. All right, let's all stand together.