The 19th century writer Mark Twain has been quoted as saying: “It ain’t the parts of the Bible that I can’t understand that bother me; it’s the parts that I DO UNDERSTAND”
One such troubling scripture is:
Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea 2 And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea 3 And did all eat the same spiritual meat 4 And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ 5 But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness 6 Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted 7 Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play 8 Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand.
9 Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents 10 Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer 11 Now all these things happened unto them for examples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come 12 Wherefore let him that thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.
In the New Living Translation this scripture reads as follows:
1 Corinthians 10:1-12 New Living Translation (NLT)
1 For we must never forget, dear brothers, what happened to our people in the wilderness long ago. God guided them by sending a cloud that moved along ahead of them; and he brought them all safely through the waters of the Red Sea 2 This might be called their “baptism” – baptized both in sea and cloud! – as followers of Moses – their commitment to him as their leader 3-4 And by a miracle God sent them food to eat and water to drink there in the desert; they drank the water that Christ gave them. He was there with them as a mighty Rock of spiritual refreshment. 5 Yet after all this most of them did not obey God, and he destroyed them in the wilderness. 6 From this lesson we are warned that we must not desire evil things as they did, 7 nor worship idols as they did. (The Scriptures tell us, “The people sat down to eat and drink and then got up to dance” in worship of the golden calf.) 8 Another lesson for us is what happened when some of them sinned with other men’s wives, and 23,000 fell dead in one day. 9 And don’t try the Lord’s patience—they did and died from snake bites. 10 And don’t murmur against God and his dealings with you as some of them did, for that is why God sent his Angel to destroy them. 11 All these things happened to them as examples—as object lessons to us—to warn us against doing the same things; they were written down so that we could read about them and learn from them in these last days as the world nears its end. 12 So be careful. If you are thinking, “Oh, I would never behave like that”—let this be a warning to you. For you too may fall into sin.
In his Olivet Discourse of Matthew 24, after initially warning his disciples about DECEPTION (a theme he returns to a bit later), Jesus then warns them about:
A – The state of the world (FAMINES, EARTHQUAKES and WIDESPREAD DISEASES)
B – How they and future disciples will be personally treated; with ARREST, PERSECUTION, BETRAYAL, HATRED and DEATH.
C – The rise of false prophets and general deception.
D – Abounding lawlessness with resultant coldness in many Christians.
There are 6 references to ‘many’ – many false Christ’s – many deceived – many offended (or stumbled) – the love of many growing cold.
Then Jesus states in Matthew 24:13
“He who ENDURES to the end will be saved”
In making this statement, Jesus is repeating the statement he already made in Matthew 10:22, when he was sending out the 12 with the authority to proclaim the Kingdom of God (heal the sick, raise the dead and cleanse lepers, etc). The verb used is hypomeno, Strong’s 5278 and translates as: to remain or stay behind when others leave; to bear up under; suffer patiently; to continue firmly; to hold out; remain constant; and to persevere. The picture given reminds me of the weightlifter lifting up a huge weight over his head and holding it up until the judges give him the white lights to say that he has passed at that weight; that it is a ‘good lift’.
Right down through the ages, true Christians have at best been tolerated and at worst been hounded, persecuted and put to death, so it’s no wonder that Jesus talked about ENDURING.
This same Greek verb is used in 1 Corinthians 13 verse 7, where in Paul’s description of Agape or ‘Charity’ he states: Agape or God’s kind of love ‘endures all things’.
There are numerous scriptures that warn about falling away or quitting and which rather exhort believers to continue steadfast in the faith and these are particularly important now, given how Jesus describes the persecution of the end-times; the rise in demonic and satanic activity and how it is a time of a great falling-away or apostasy (2 Thessalonians 2:3) and how the fate of ‘many’ will be to fall away and be deceived.
Some examples would be:
Romans 2:6-10. ‘(God) who will render to every man according to his deeds; to them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life; but unto them that are contentious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish….’.
One could say that this ‘patient continuance’ has the connotation of referring to both time and place; we have to be in the right place doctrinally (obeying the Word of God) and we have to continue in it not temporarily, but right to the end of our lives or the coming of Yeshua.
Acts 2:42. Says that the apostles ‘were devoting themselves’ (continuous present) to the apostles’ teaching, to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayers’.
1 Corinthians 15; 1-2. ‘Moreover brethren, I declare to you the Gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, IF YOU HOLD FAST that word which I preached to you—-unless you believed in vain’.
1 Corinthians 16:13. ‘Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong’.
Colossians 1:22-23. ‘God has now reconciled you through Christ’s death in order to present you holy, without blemish and without reproach in his sight, IF INDEED you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the Gospel that you heard….’.
And we have Jesus’ own words:
John 14:15. ‘IF you love me, keep my commandments’.
1 Peter 5:12. Stand firm in this grace….
2 Thessalonians 2:15. …. Stand firm and keep a strong grip on the teaching we passed on to you both in person and by letter.
1 Timothy 4:16. ‘Take heed unto thyself and unto the DOCTRINE; continue in them; for in doing this thou shall save both thyself and them that hear thee’.
Is spiritual authority based on human reasoning/the doctrines of the particular denomination or from the Bible? This is the watershed we are currently at.
Psalm 138 verse 2 states: That God ‘has magnified His word even above His name’ and so, remnant believers are always going to go with the authority of scripture.
(1) Hebrews 2:1-4:
Don’t neglect your faith.
Pay close attention.
Don’t drift away.
Don’t ignore/neglect this great salvation.
(2) Hebrews 3:5-4-16:
We are His if we hold fast our confidence to the end. (Hebrews 3:6 &14).
Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts (Hebrews 4:7)
Let us hold fast our confession (Hebrews 4:14).
(3) Hebrews 5:11-6:12
Don’t fall away-be diligent ‘For in the case of those who have once been enlightened, and have tasted of the Heavenly gift, and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away; it is impossible to renew them again to repentance since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God, and put him to open shame. (Hebrews 6:4-6).
(4) Hebrews 10:26-39
For if we go on sinning wilfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgement and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries (Hebrews 10:26-27). Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward, For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised. (Hebrews 10:35-36).
(5) Hebrews 12:14-29
See to it that you do not refuse Him who is speaking. For if those did not escape who refused Him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape who turn away from Him who warns from Heaven. (Hebrews 12:14-29)
We know that the whole area of human sexuality and God’s blueprint for marriage ‘have been under increasing attack in recent years. The Church of England produced a publication called ‘Living in love and faith’ (a document that some evangelicals have ruefully called ”living in lust and fornication’). This is an example of this headlong slide into apostasy. It was voted on recently at their General Synod.
I quoted a speech made by a young Christian (Ben John, Canon J John’s son). Here’s an example of a young man who’s very unlikely to apostatise.
Christian Concerns Benjamin John delivered a powerful speech to the Church of England’s General Synod this week. Here it is in full:
What our world needs, whether they know it or not, is the gospel, they need the saviour Jesus Christ. Don’t we all. The Jesus who washes, sanctifies and justifies us. The hope, the gospel for all of us, whatever our struggles and sins and temptations is that in Christ we are forgiven and that our sins and desires no longer define us. As Paul says, such were some of you. (1 Corinthians 6:9-10)
We do not need to hold onto sinful identities and behaviours. We have not been given a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear but a spirit of adoption by whom we cry Abba Father!
These proposals are wrong. They say that Jesus doesn’t wash and sanctify you. That you do not need to take up your cross and follow him. That there is no call to holiness. That the truth does not set you free.
But love rejoices in the truth, it does not rejoice in wrongdoing. Love calls people out of sin and to Christ, snatching them out of the fire with discipline so that their spirits might be saved.
Please, bishops I plead with you: withdraw the proposals and prayers, turn from this path that you are on, fear God not man, be the shepherds that God is calling you to be, protect the sheep entrusted into your care by driving out this teaching that perverts the grace of God into a licence for immorality, this teaching that tickles our ears to suit our desires, a teaching that leads to the broad road and not the narrow one.
It is not too late. Turn to the beautiful, wonderful, glorious gospel. Why make ourselves like the world when we have the one thing the world needs? The gospel of Jesus Christ where we receive our true identities as precious daughters and treasured sons of God.
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ENCOURAGEMENT FROM THE SCRIPTURES
It has been said that none can be more spiritual than they are scriptural. There is great encouragement for persisting believers:
Psalm 125:1 – Those who trust in the Lord are as secure as Mount Zion; they will not be defeated but will endure forever.
Luke 6:48 – And following: The wise man built his house upon the rock. (He who hears and DOES the word of the Lord).
2 Thessalonians: 2:10-13 – in speaking of the coming of the Antichrist, Paul contrasts the attitude of those who will be deceived by the ‘lying signs and wonders’ with true believers who will not:
10 And with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved.11 And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. 12 That they might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. 13 But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth.
Quote from Dr Desmond Tutu:
Here was a man who had a Master’s degree in Theology; won the Nobel Peace prize in1984, and yet he made this statement:
“I would refuse to go to a Homophobic Heaven. No, I would say ‘Sorry’. I mean I would much rather go to the other place”.
2 Peter 3:3 ‘Scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts’. Tutu was mocking the very Word of God, which is full of the promises we hold onto, as Christians.
2 Thessalonians 2:13 – But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:
Hebrews 4:16 – So let us come boldly before the throne of grace; that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Here grace has a dual meaning. We approach the throne of ‘unmerited favour’ in prayer (confession, repentance, supplication are implied here), and there find the supernatural empowerment that God gives us by his grace, which may be defined as the ‘God-given ability to do what I ought to do’ . Faith and ongoing trust in the Lord are key.
In 2 Peter 1: 5-7 & 10 – Peter gives a sort of ‘pyramid of progress’ made up of (1) Faith (2) Virtue (3) Knowledge (4) Temperance (self-control) (5) Patience (or perseverance). In fact, the word in the Greek is the same root word for endurance or steadfastness. (6) Godliness (7) Brotherly Kindness (8) Love. The Living Bible uses the term ‘additions to faith’ to this.
He goes on to exhort the believers to ‘give diligence to make your call and election sure; for if you do these things, ye shall never fall; for so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ.
Jude 1:21 – ‘Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of Jesus Christ unto eternal life (How do we do keep ourselves in the love of God? By obeying his commandments.
(Go back and read the 1 Corinthians 10 scripture again from Living Bible)
And finally:
Hebrews 12:1-2 – ‘Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance (hypomone) the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him, endured (hypomeno) the cross, despising its shame and has sat down at the right hand of God.
It’s not so much the convictions you hold, but the convictions that hold you.
SUMMARY
We must endure to the end, and given the state of the world it may be quite close. Jesus warns his disciples to take time to count the cost of following Him (Luke 14:28). Things are hotting up. Standing for the Lord now may cost us our jobs, our families, our freedom. F.A.I.T.H. means FORSAKING ALL I TRUST HIM.
We must be eternally grateful for God’s grace, but never think of it or use it as a licence to sin, but rather as the means of putting sins to death.
We need to stay humble and renounce pride. God promises grace to the humble (James 4:6). The less highly we think of our achievements the better. The Laodicean church/ Jews of Yeshua’s’ day were chock-full of pride “We be Abraham’s seed and were never in bondage to anyone (John 8:33) yet God’s estimation of them was very different. We can be confident, but should never be complacent (complacency being the situation of thinking we’re standing when in reality we’re falling).
Jesus will never cast us out (John 6:37), but from the evidence of the scriptures quoted above, we can choose by our own free will and decisions to walk away from salvation.