Yes, the Christian is called to endure to the end. But let me kill a lie before it discourages you: you are not asked to hold on by your grip. The endurance God commands, God supplies. Hear it:
“…Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.” (Zechariah 4:6, KJV)
The strength is His, not yours
“Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might” (Ephesians 6:10), not in yours. Your best determination will run out; His power will not. And here is the promise that lets a weak saint sleep at night: you “are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation” (1 Peter 1:5). Kept (guarded, garrisoned) by God’s power, not your willpower.
So what about “he that endureth to the end shall be saved”?
Someone says, “But Jesus said, ‘he that endureth to the end shall be saved’” (Matthew 10:22). Yes, and that endurance is the evidence that God’s saving power is at work in you, not a wage you earn to complete your own salvation. You still run: “so run, that ye may obtain” (1 Corinthians 9:24); you still “press toward the mark” (Philippians 3:14); you refuse to draw back (Hebrews 10:38–39). But you do it all leaning on Him.
Keep your eyes on the Finisher
And where do you look while you run? Not down at your feet, child of God: up at your Lord: “looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2). He authored your faith and He will finish it. When Paul stood alone, “the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me” (2 Timothy 4:17). So endure, but endure by God’s power, and give Him the glory when you cross the line. Glory to God.
Related Teaching
“And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”
2 Corinthians 5:18-21 (KJV)
Watch the teachingNew verse by verse studies go out every week on YouTube, King James Version, with the passage on the screen. Subscribe to The Prevailing Word of God, taught by John Kempf of Melbourne, Florida.