Endure…

In Matt 24 the disciples ask Jesus what the signs of His second coming shall be. Jesus tells them and then ends with this…

‘But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.’

So what does it mean to endure?

This phrase ‘he that shall endure’, is just one Greek word – hypomenō – it has several meanings, stay under, remain, abide, bear trials, have fortitude, persevere, take patiently, suffer.

We will be saved if we ‘stay under’ the covering of Christ.

Friends, if we’re truly born again then we abide in Christ positionally and nothing can change that BUT unless kept we will be one of those spoken of in the previous verse and our love to the Lord will grow cold.

These warnings are here for a purpose Friends, to open our eyes to our need of staying close to Jesus, of staying under His authority and in His will. Staying under His influence and fighting against the pull of the world, not going on in our own strength and wisdom but under Christ and His wisdom and strength. THIS is how we endure, THROUGH Christ as we lean upon Him, through Christ who is IN us by the Holy Spirit to help and keep us.

Friends, we’re ‘kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.’

‘KEPT, by the power of God’, not by our own efforts but by faith in God’s power.

If we’re to be kept we MUST seek Him for that help to be kept and not to try to keep ourselves in our own strength.

Then this word also translates as ‘bear trials’ and ‘have fortitude”, we will be saved if we bear the trials with fortitude or courage.

How can we do this when at times the weight of our cross feels as though it will crush us? How can we patiently suffer these things and endure to the end?

Friends, WE can’t but through Christ we CAN! We, like Paul, ‘can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.’

Let’s take a moment to look at the word ‘unto’. In the Greek it’s ‘eis‘ and can also mean ‘of one mind’. If we endure and remain in one mind unto the end, we shall be saved.

How we need much grace to be kept of one mind, our hearts and affections set on Christ alone…

‘No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye CANNOT serve God and mammon.’

Ah Friends, ‘choose you this day whom ye will serve;’ whether the gods of this world, it’s temporary treasures that can never truly satisfy, or the One True God?

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Matt 24:13, 1 Peter 1:5, Phil 4:13, Matt 6:24, Josh 24:15