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Part II

ENDURE AND BE SAVED?

Another scripture caused concerned for our young student, and perhaps you as well. It is from Mark 13:13.

This scripture comes from the context of the Great Tribulation, of which, I am no scholar, nor do I pretend to know all about it. But is Christ talking about the loss of personal salvation? Where can you quote me one scripture that says he who endures to the end shall be saved "in context" of eternal life. It takes little effort by the unscrupulous to twist and torture scripture. It does take effort however to properly interpret scripture according to the mind of Christ. And in God's Word there are many scriptures which clearly state, “He who believes shall be saved.”

"He who does not obey” refers to an unbeliever. It is the unbeliever that shall perish and have no part in eternal salvation and security. Again, this is clear throughout scripture.

Eternal rewards, rule and riches are certainly at stake for each Christian.
He who remains faithful despite difficult circumstances and stressful situations will receive these. God tells us to “make purses without holes”; “to be rich towards God”; we are taught to “persevere, be watchful, and be patient." And all of this is to be done within the Sphere of Faith and the realm of Sanctification or the filling of the Spirit.

The Apostle Paul quotes a “trustworthy statement.” 2 Tim. 2: 11-13

11. It is a trustworthy statement: For if we died with Him, we shall also live with Him;
12. If we endure, we shall also reign with Him; If we deny Him, He also will deny us;
13. If we are faithless, He remains faithful; for He cannot deny Himself.

Lets look at this statement which Paul gives his seal of approval. Verse 11
says if we died with him, we shall live with Him. Those who believe in Christ are said to "die with him" positionally (as seen by God in Heaven as a "done deal".). This is to be worked out experientially here in the earth. We do this daily by "taking up our cross and following Christ." This verse does not say, “We shall live with Him as long as we are good little boys and girls.”

Verse 12 says, If we endure, we shall reign with Him. This gets back to our scripture about endurance. But this does not deal with eternal life, but life in eternity with Christ. All who believe WILL BE SAVED. Does the Bible have to say it 5 times, 10 times, 20 times before you believe this? Understand, if you believe, you are saved once and forever more. PERIOD! We must do away with those teachers who teach a different gospel. However, if we choose to live for ourselves and not God, we will not reign in Heaven’s court with
Christ. We will not receive the Glory Blessings and we will not have riches, rank, and reward. These will be denied to us for we chose not to glorify God but self. We will not lose our salvation based on our selfish lifestyle, but we will lose much indeed.

Verse 13. This verse raps it up. God remains faithful to His promise even
if we do not, for God’s integrity is at stake, not ours. The angels of
Heaven look to God for this. They witnessed in eternity past the great "shake out" when Satan sought to usurp God from His throne. They heard God's pronouncement against him: permanent banishment from heaven and a permanent place prepared for him—hell. They saw one third of the angels be removed from heaven for their allegiance to Satan. And they have seen more.

The angels not only witnessed the havoc caused by Satan in heaven, but Satan's attempt and success in getting Adam to partake of the forbidden fruit. Adam was God's crown achievement by which He would be glorified amongst the angels of heaven. And now man failed. What would God do, the angels might have wondered. What God did to restore man from his sin was to prepare a sacrifice that would appease Him. For he who sins must die. But this would be no ordinary sacrifice. It would be His Son, Christ Jesus, who would crush the head of Satan and his power. This would be done through the shedding of blood of His Son upon the cross. And a symbol would be established to point to the day of the actual event. This symbol was the sacrifice of an unblemished lamb which provided garments for Adam and Eve. And scripture has recorded that Christ Jesus is the lamb slain from the foundation of the world, Rev. 13:8.

So the angels look into these things. They look to God to fulfill His Word. And they are at God's beckon call to be faithful servants in our salvation. They minister to us, protect us, and are on guard for us. They have a role in our salvation. So to think God would abandoned those who came to trust in Christ for salvation is unheard of to them.

God says if we believe in His Son as Savior we forever possess eternal life…and I might add with no strings attached. Believe and be saved. God said it and it will forever be so, despite what we might do with our saved life. We will live in eternity with God. How we will be ranked will be determined by our devotion to God here in the earth. If we remain steadfast until the end, we would have completed that which God gave us to do and there is great reward for those who endure to the end.

The spiritual life is a life of testing and with each test we develop and mature towards discipleship. We need perseverance, endurance and steadfastness to pass these tests. By these traits, we remain spiritual, keep our filling, and maintain our fellowship with God.

There is a “saving of the soul” which refers to our “transformation” of the soul or a “reprogramming of the soul” from carnal thinking to spiritual thinking.” Such new, Christ-like thinking is vital to overcome the world, the flesh and the devil. We cannot be victorious and win battles against the enemy with “old man” thinking. Nor, can we ever fulfill the purpose for which we were created: to glorify God. Christianity gives the faithful believer the power to glorify God on the earth. The believer who has sinned and lost the filling of the Spirit remains saved, but he is in a carnal state. He is cut off from grace, not eternal life. His good works of “wood, hay, stubble” will be burned, but he shall be saved. 1 Cor. 3:15-

"If any man's work is burned up, he shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be saved, yet so as through fire."

The sinner still has the opportunity to confess sin. If he refuses to confess, if he refuses to heed the Holy Spirit who convicts us of sin, then he becomes more and more carnal and becomes more and more like he was before salvation. But he continues to retain his salvation. But is he off “scott free?” Assuredly not! He is under the strong arm of discipline. There are various stages of discipline and if he does not respond to discipline he is in danger of losing his life…not eternal life, but physical life.

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