TOPIC: YOU MUST CROSS THE FINISH LINE
MEMORISE:
But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. Mathew 24:13
READ: 1 Corinthians 9:24-27.
24 Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.
25 And 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.
26 I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air:
27 But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.
MESSAGE:
Some theologians teach that once you are saved you are forever saved. This is the lie of the devil. The truth of the matter is that there is temporary (provisional) salvation as well as eternal salvation. One can be saved temporarily and be damned eventually if he falls out of the will of God, whereas God has also made provision for our eternal salvation if we abide by His word which is able to save us ultimately to the end (James 1:21). The Bible says:
“Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof: and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.” Ecclesiastes 7:8
There are examples of people who started well in the Christian race but fell by the way side, chief among whom was Judas Iscariot- one of the twelve disciples of Jesus Christ. Beloved, do not allow yourself to be deceived, thinking that once you are saved, nothing can take away your salvation. If Judas- a disciple of Christ could fall and lose his eternal salvation, nobody should consider Heaven a certainty while living a life of sin. Heaven is guaranteed only if you live righteously to the very end.
Complete obedience to the word of God is a fundamental condition for eternal salvation. James 1:22, 25 says:
“But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves….. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.”
In addition to obeying the word of God, another condition is due endurance of persecution to the end. Jesus Christ, in our memory verse of today categorically tells us that only those who endure to the end shall be ultimately saved (Matthew 24:13). Why persecution? The Bible says “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” (2 Timothy 3:12).
The Scripture corroborates what our Lord Jesus Christ as in John 15:19:
“If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.”
Beloved, let us endure to the end and we shall experience eternal salvation, in the name of Jesus.
PRAYER POINT:
Father, please help me to endure to the very end so I would receive eternal salvation. Don’t let me fall by the way, in Jesus’ name.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Psalm 119.
AUTHOR: PASTOR E. A. ADEBOYE
HYMN 24: TAKE MY LIFE, AND LET IT BE.
1. Take my life and let it be
Consecrated, Lord, to Thee;
Take my moments and my days;
Let them flow in ceaseless praise.
Chorus
Take my heart, it is Thine own;
It shall be Thy royal throne.
Take my life and let it be
Consecrated, Lord, to Thee.
2. Take my hands and let them move
Ata the impulse of Thy love;
Take my feet and let them ge
Swift and beautiful for Thee.
3. Take my voice and let me sing
Always, only, for my King;
Take my lips and let them e
Filled with messages from Thee.
4. Take my love, my Lord, I pour
At Thy feet its treasure store;
Take myself and I will be
Ever, only, all for Thee.
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