Keep Going — Tim Conway

Matthew 10 and the Call to Keep Going

Today, I'd like to have you turn to Matthew 10. Mack and I were having lunch on Monday, and he mentioned a sermon by Francis Schaeffer called, I think he said it was called, Keep On. I'm not exactly certain if that's the right title because I was not able to find it at all.

But, just Mack bringing that up got me thinking about keep on. I'm calling my message this morning, Keep Going. My text, Matthew 10 .22, just this part of it. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

Let's pray. Father, we recognize that You have called us to live a life that we simply cannot live in our own strength. Lord, help. I pray You'd help. And I pray that You'd speak through Your Word in such a way that we would indeed have ears to hear.

Help us hear and apply what we hear. Help me apply what I hear. I pray in Christ's name, Amen. Keep going. Not hard to see where that comes from in light of the passage. The one who endures to the end will be saved.

Matthew gives us that very same quote again in Matthew 24. Mark gives it to us in a parallel account in Mark 13. Brethren, it's like there's this voice in Scripture that says, keep going. Keep going. Keep on.

You know, this past summer I did two things with my son and my son-in-law that tested all of us. We climbed to the top of Mount Massive and we also rode our bikes up to the top of Loveland Pass. Both of those were tough.

And you know, you felt like giving up at times. We have to really ask ourselves, would you tend to believe that the Bible makes out the Christian life to be easier than Mount Massive? It was difficult.

Riding the bike up to that pass, Loveland. You ever forded a river? Or I remember one time with my buddies fighting the waves. There was such an undercurrent down in Florida that we barely could make it back.

I remember getting back to the shore and laying down absolutely exhausted. Because we swam out to a sandbar. And coming back, the current was so strong. Just trying to take every step and the undercurrent was taking the sand out from under our feet.

And I got back and I was spent. I had nothing left. I laid down there on the sand. And you know what? I looked around. All my friends, they were back there. And I looked at those guys and I said, I almost didn't make it back.

And every one of them looked at me and said, neither did I. Which is easier? That or the Christian life? Which is harder? Which would you imagine? When the Scripture warns us about such things as the fact we fight against angels and they're scheming against us, and the fact that we fight against the passions of the flesh which wage war against us, and you know how they pull on you.

Endurance, the Word, and the Good Soil

Making it to the end. And you know what you find in Scripture and you cannot get away from this? And listen, I'll tell you this, the reason you cannot get away from what I'm going to hit right here on the head and what this text already hits us with, this idea of endurance, God knows that this is the toughest thing anyone will ever do is to make it to the end.

And so you have this constant voice in Scripture that is saying, go. Keep going. Keep on. Listen to this, the good soil. What is it with the good soil? Those who having heard the Word, or those who hearing the Word, hold it fast.

That's what it is. That's what it is to be good soil. You get this Word and you don't let go of it. That means it guides your life every single day and you keep going and you don't despise this Word and what it says you do.

You're not a hearer only. You are putting it into practice and you hold it fast in an honest and a good heart and you bear fruit with patience. Can you hear that? Bear fruit with patience. That means you keep going.

You just patiently keep on doing it. You're taking the Word of God. You hear what it says. You apply it to your life and you keep going. That's what the good soil is. All the other soils are not good.

That's the only one. Listen to this, you know this, if the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner? You ever read that? If the righteous is scarcely saved? Like what?

You know what that means? It means if the righteous with difficulty is saved. If it's so hard to make it to the end as a Christian, if they have to go through difficulties and trials, what in the world is the end going to be for the ungodly and the sinner?

Justification, Obedience, and Perseverance

Now listen to this. It's amazing to me that people oftentimes cannot hear the message of Romans. The true message of Romans. Because they come to the letter so programmed to think justification by faith.

The Romans letter teaches justification by faith. Not by works. And so that means that it's basically a book where we think about faith, we're justified, everything's okay. But you know the thing is, this book is really about the righteousness of faith.

That's what you find when you come into chapter 1. That's what you find when you end up with chapter 16. It's about the obedience of faith. Listen to this. Oftentimes people can't hear this. Romans 2, God will render to each one according to His works, to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, He will give eternal life.

Did you get that? Patience in well-doing. That means you keep on. You're patient. You're not shaken out of this. You're not hastily running off. You're patient. There's patience. You just keep going.

You keep going. You know what? To those, eternal life. How about this? Let us not grow weary of well-doing or doing good for in due season we will reap if we do not give up. But if you give up, you don't reap.

This voice is everywhere in Scripture. It's saying to us, Christian, endure. Fight. Keep going. And this is from God Himself because He knows this. Brethren, the reality is, it's not just that He knows this, He's designed this.

It's like He wants you to be overcomers. And so He's going to give you things to overcome. Keep going. Keep going. Therefore, we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard lest we drift away from it.

Pay closer attention. Don't drift. What does pay closer attention mean? It means maybe you haven't been doing enough already that you need to actually pay closer attention because you don't want to drift away from this.

Listen, one moment in hell and you realize you do not want to drift away from this. And this is life and death. And few there be that find it. And you better take this serious because there are people falling out of this race all the time.

And this voice says, keep going. Endure. Endure. We are His house. God's house. We're the dwelling place for God. If, you better catch the ifs in Scripture. If indeed we hold fast our confidence and we hold fast our boasting and our hope, God wants us to be boasters and He wants you to go keep on boasting in the hope that you have.

Keep going. Keep going. Hold fast that confidence. How about Hebrews 3 .14? We've come to share in Christ if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. Or this, Hebrews 10. Therefore do not throw away your confidence which has a great reward.

People do throw it away. Hebrews 10 .38. My righteous one shall live by faith. If he shrinks back. That's how Scripture talks. Don't shrink back. My righteous one shall live by faith. If he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.

Trials, the Churches, and Holding Fast

Or this, blessed is the man who remains steadfast. This comes from James 1. Blessed is the man or the woman who remains steadfast in trials. Now trials are not always what we expect them to be. Oftentimes a trial or a test isn't necessarily how we might anticipate.

It's not necessarily... It can be getting cancer. It may be that. But oftentimes it's the allurement of the world. It's something that just wants to lull you to sleep. Some enticement of the world. Do you remember what was said to all those churches?

I'll just give you a few examples. Those churches in Asia Minor. The Lord Jesus Christ addressing Ephesus says, to the one who conquers, I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the paradise of God.

But it's only if you conquer. That means every obstacle that's put in your way, you've got to conquer that thing and get to the end. You've got to endure. If you don't endure, you shrink back, no pleasure.

And He actually says shrink back and are destroyed. You see, the Bible doesn't only have this voice that's encouraging us onward. It's also got threatenings. You'll be destroyed. It's serious, it's severe, I know.

To the church at Smyrna, be faithful unto death. And I will give you the crown of life. Thyatira, only hold fast what you have until I come. The one who conquers, now listen to this, who keeps my works, keeps my works until the end, I will give him the morning star.

You got to keep on working the works of Christ. Philadelphia, I'm coming soon. Hold fast what you have so that no one may seize your crown. Let me ask you this, are you protecting your crown? Isn't that interesting?

Jesus Himself would say to you, Christian, because that's what He was saying right here to Philadelphia and you better remember who Philadelphia is. They're a faithful church. He didn't find anything wrong with them, but He said this to them, there's something out there looking to take your crown.

You better not let anybody take it. And you have a responsibility to protect that crown. That's how He talks. We just have to be honest with the way He talks. Hold fast what you have that no one may seize your crown.

You have to hold fast. That's how you protect your crown. You recognize it's not doing this. The way you protect your crown is by enduring. It's by keeping on. You go. And you know what the thing is? Our Bibles make no effort whatsoever to conceal the accounts of those who did not endure.

Biblical Examples of Falling Away

I mean, all you have to do is look at certain people in the Scriptures. It's almost like every time I read the Bible again, you kind of hope that it won't turn out the same way that you know it's going to turn out with some of these individuals.

We know the end of the story. But you know, there was a day when you looked at King Saul, things looked pretty good. But he didn't make it. Do you remember a king by the name of Joash? Do you remember the one time the southern kingdom actually had a woman on the throne?

Her name was Athaliah. And she sought to kill all the bloodline. But you know what? She missed one. He was an eight-year-old. His name was Joash. And you know what Scripture says? He held true all the days of Jehoiada.

Do you know what? When Jehoiada died, he went off. Do you ever read about Jehu? You remember who he was? God raised up a king in the northern kingdom to take the place of Ahab and basically to wipe out Ahab's bloodline.

This is the guy that killed Jezebel. There were good things said about him. He was prophesied about by a prophet of God that Jehu was going to wipe out this line, but he went bad. How about, you come to the New Testament.

Who do you have? Simon. Remember Simon in Acts 8? Looked good, right? Got baptized. He believed, but it did not end well with him. Oh, who cannot forget the name of Demas? We know that name. Or how about this?

1 Timothy 1, some have made shipwreck of the faith, of their faith, among whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander. Now just listen to that. They made shipwreck of their faith. You know what Paul's doing? He's describing faith like a ship that floats through the ocean.

He doesn't say that they didn't have faith. He says they had faith like this ship. And you know the problem is, it never made it to the harbor. It was dashed on the rocks before it got there. That's what shipwreck means.

It means the ship was there and then it was wrecked. That's how Scripture speaks. Faith like a ship. We need to listen carefully to how the Scripture actually speaks. Sometimes we get unsettled. We have certain theological systems.

So we barely hear what Scripture's actually saying. Listen to this. The Spirit expressly says that in later times, some will depart from the faith. And see, we get all worked up. You know, we've got our doctrines.

And it's like, wait, wait, if somebody's a true believer, if somebody has really trusted Christ, and so we want to talk that way. Depart from the faith. What's that mean? Does that mean somebody can lose their salvation?

I'll tell you this, what it does mean is somebody can believe something and walk away from believing that. That's what it means. And they devote themselves to deceitful spirits. Here's these deceitful spirits again.

Constantly trying to delude us and deceive us. Or this, for the time is coming when people will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. People wander off. You know, it was mentioned in the first hour about Pilgrim's Progress.

You know, one of the things that's interesting about Pilgrim's Progress, look at all the characters that Pilgrim encounters. How many of them actually make it to the celestial city? I mean, by my count, three.

I mean, maybe that's not including the second part with Christiana, but I mean, who made it? Faithful, hopeful, Christian. And yet they encountered many people. And you know what you find? Is Bunyan portrays them drifting off, wandering off, falling to destruction, going over the edge, falling.

This is an accurate picture. As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is one who hears the Word. Notice that, they hear the Word. Not some error, not some false teaching of some cult somewhere. They hear the truth.

They hear the Word of God. And what happens? Immediately receive it with joy. But what do they do? They endure for a while. Luke 8 says they believe for a while. And when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the Word, immediately he falls away.

Falls away. How do people fall away? There's a place there in Hebrews 3 that talks about falling away from the living God. How do people fall away? Well, they do. They do, and our doctrine needs to deal with that.

And see, the thing is, the one who endures, you've got to endure. I've got to endure. Because falling away is real. And if you sit there and think, well, it's not going to be me. Listen, we need to work out our salvation with fear and trembling, because the reality is people do fall away.

Salvation, Endurance, and Assurance

This is how Scripture talks. The one who endures to the end will be saved. So, let's think about that. The one who endures to the end will be saved? Wait a second, I thought I was already saved. Will be saved?

Yeah, it's a future tense verb. I mean, think, Jesus makes it... Listen, just listen to the text. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. What does that sound like it's saying? Well, you know what it sounds like it's saying.

It sounds like Jesus is teaching that being saved is future. You can't deny that. That's what it sounds like. It sounds like it's something I haven't obtained yet. It sounds like if I am going to attain it, there's a condition.

This is conditional. What's the condition? Endure. I mean, I must do that. Whatever the end is, I must do it until then. And if I don't, conclusion. You know what the conclusion is. You're not saved in the end.

I mean, that's what it sounds like the Lord is teaching. And I mean, how many despise this type of thing? This is works. I mean, certainly this is works salvation. If I have to do something in order to get saved, if I have to do something like endure to the end in order to be saved, plain and simple, it's works.

So whatever this means, it doesn't apply to me. People do that with these kinds of Scriptures all the time. Can't apply to me. James and I were just recently dealing with somebody. We were dealing, all this sin in their life.

There's no good indication of persevering and enduring in the works of Christ. This individual is enduring in sin. It's like asking him, are you sure about where you're at spiritually? Oh, we're saved.

We're not saved by works. That just quickly came right off those lips. Not saved by works. Uh-uh, no matter if I'm enduring or not, doesn't matter what my life looks like, not saved by works. People don't hear verses like this all the time because they're just wired in such a way.

But you need to hear what Jesus is saying. You've got to endure to the end. I mean, the reality is, say what we will. This is nothing other than biblical salvation that we're presented with here. Listen, let us not grow weary of doing good.

Don't be weary of well-doing. For in season we will reap if we do not give up. But what you need to remember is this, what do we reap? This isn't just talking about reward. You reap eternal life. You reap salvation if you endure to the end doing well, doing good.

We have come to share in Christ if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. I mean, there's the end again. Firm to the end. We have to embrace the original confidence. Jesus Himself said, remember, remember, the one who conquers, who keeps My works until the end.

There's the end again. That end shows up quite a bit in Scripture. The end. Look, we have to work while it's day because the end is coming. The end. Death, Christ's return, judgment day. Those things are hastening towards us at great speed.

The one who endures to the end will be saved. What is this enduring? Well, we see, you have to endure, you have to hold fast to the confidence. Not just any confidence, not some confidence in a past experience.

This is holding fast my confidence in Christ and I hold fast in the works of Christ because remember this, faith without works, you know the answer. Faith without works. If the faith is held fast to, then the works, the obedience of faith will flow forth.

That's the thing. This is enduring in confidence, enduring in Christ's works, enduring in doing good. That's the living faith that saves. The only true salvation is this. It's an enduring salvation. God always completes the work that He starts.

Oh, there may be times of strain, there may be times of wandering, there may be times of coldness, but you know what Scripture says. We have such a Father that He is going to come along, He's going to discipline us, He is going to make certain.

Brethren, He's chosen us to be holy and blameless before Him. You can be certain. He is going to see to this. But we're not dealing with God's sovereignty. We're not dealing with how God works. We're dealing with our own enduring.

You see, we have a responsibility here. We have to endure. You don't sit back and just say, well, you know, let go, let God. That's not what's happening here. You have to endure. You have to fight. Remember how Paul said at the end, I fought the good fight of faith.

I made it. I held fast. It's not salvation by works. This is salvation by Christ. Brethren, if you don't know the difference, you've got to get this straight. Think about our Lord's words. He says to His disciples, you guys stay dressed for action.

Stay. You get that word? That's close to endure. Endure in being dressed for action. Stay. Don't let down your guard. That's what He's saying to these guys. Be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks.

Listen to this, blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. You better endure. You better stay awake. You better keep fighting. In fact, he goes on to say this. He says, who is the faithful and wise manager whom his master will set over his household to give that household their portion of food at the proper time?

He says, blessed is the servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. You see what he's saying? Blessed is, this isn't far away. This is right here. Blessed is the one who when death takes you or Christ comes, he finds you so doing.

So doing what? Being faithful to Him. Doing what He has called you to do as one of His servants. And you know how He's going to find you doing that? Because you didn't coast. Brethren, I know this. I didn't really dive into this, but I just recently saw this.

I don't know why I was looking at it. But I came across the message that Lloyd-Jones had done in his series on spiritual depression. I think it was the last sermon. I could be wrong about that. But he basically made this statement.

He said it is commonplace for Christians to get in the middle of their walk with Christ and become depressed. In the middle. He said this is commonplace. I wonder, are any of you there? Because the reality is this, even if you come to a place like the Galatians were or like perhaps some of the Colossians were or some of the Hebrews were or some of the Corinthians were, the reality is you can tell by the very tone of those letters that they're being told if you stay there, you die.

And they're being called to press on. Come on. Come out of there. Come back. Don't drift. Get back on course. Confidence. Firm to the end. This is the way Scripture speaks to us. Stay dressed for action.

Hebrews, Former Days, and Present Perseverance

And you know what? This is exactly where the concern of the author of Hebrews comes in because you remember what he said to those guys? He said this, he said, He said, recall the former days. Oh yeah?

What'd those guys do in the former days? They suffered persecution. You know what they did? They sided with those who were in prison. They allowed their stuff to get taken, to get destroyed. They endured a hard struggle with sufferings.

Sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach, afflicted, partners with those so treated. For you had compassion on those in prison and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property. Oh, brethren, when we get to a place in our life where you have to recall the former days and when the nouns about you serving Christ, walking with Christ, and enduring our past tense, that's bad.

And that is what brings a letter like the letter of Hebrews with all of its warnings and encouragements and admonishments. You don't want to get there. You don't want to get when you look at your life and its past tense verbs.

Remember when this was true. Remember that. Recall the former days. You don't want to get, brethren, we don't want to get to the place where you have to recall the former days when you were faithful and enduring.

That means you are in a dangerous place. They were in a dangerous place. That's why they received the strongest warnings in the New Testament. Are the verbs in your life present? Because after all, you have to endure today.

I can't endure yesterday and I can't endure tomorrow. I have to endure today. Today. The one who endures to the end will be saved. But many are so accustomed to thinking about being saved as something that happens in the past that they can hardly hear these words.

Well, I'm already saved. I mean, don't talk to me about will be saved. And on the other hand, you get people that just become paralyzed by this kind of talking. This destroys my security. This destroys my assurance.

This means I can't be certain about anything until I get to the end. But do you hear what's being said? If you were to hold firm and hold steadfast to the confidence that you had at the beginning and hold that firm to the end, that's just the opposite of being full of doubt and lacking assurance.

You see, what we're supposed to endure in is confidence. But you have to remember, you have to recognize there's a difference between being confident in Christ and being confident about where you're at.

And that's a huge difference. You see, the confidence you need to hold firm to to the end, the book of Hebrews is all about the glories of Christ and what He's done and a new covenant and He secured it with His blood.

It's there. It's not you always looking and saying, hmm, I can't know really where I'm at. I can't be sure of where I'm at. Brethren, the confidence that the book of Hebrews calls us to is not for you to specifically be gazing in the mirror all the time, trying to figure out exactly where you're at.

The person that has the hope, the person that's going to make it in the end is the person who's looking at Christ and saying, I'm confident. Whatever, however you may be shaken, however your feelings may be, the confidence you've got to hold to the end is I'm not moving away from Him.

He is my only confidence. I have no other. What He accomplished there, there is a high priest. He saved me to the uttermost. I need that. You see, we must hold our original confidence firm to the end.

That's what Scripture says. This is the Lord speaking. He's the One that says this. The one who endures to the end will be saved. It's not my opinion or my teaching. See, we need to become more accustomed, I think, with the way Scripture speaks about salvation.

Because this present idea of being saved, we are being saved, and future, we will be saved, very, very prominent in Scripture. And yet, it's amazing, we just read through Scripture. It's like I was talking about earlier.

Brethren, we need to pay close attention to what Scripture actually says. We can become so programmed by our theological systems to think it says something, and we don't really actually hear what it says.

Present, Future, and Final Salvation

The Word of the Cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. Paul looked at himself in the Corinthians, and he says, we're being saved. I had a young lady come up to me at the Fellowship Conference New York, and she said, can I ask you a question?

She said, I ask the Lord to save me every day. Is that wrong? I said, oh, no, that is not wrong. I said, I pray that too. And I'm not saying it's right to pray that way just simply because I pray that way.

I pray that way because I hear that He, we have such a high priest who is able to save us to the uttermost, and I need to be saved today from certain things, from certain enemies, from certain powers.

And you do too. And we're being saved. We need the power of God in our life today to overcome today. When do you overcome? Jesus is saying those who overcome, I'll give you the crown. But again, you don't overcome yesterday.

I can't overcome Mount Massive standing here talking to you. I overcame it in that day when I climbed up the side of it. That's when you overcome. You overcome in the thing that you're involved with presently.

That's where overcoming always takes place. You never overcome for some other time. That doesn't happen. Brethren, brethren, we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved. I would remind you, brothers, of the Gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved.

1 Corinthians 15 If you hold fast, if you hold fast to the Word I preached to you. You see, we hold fast to the truths. We keep confident in them. We keep believing them. We hold fast to the commandments of Christ and what He's called us to do.

We hold fast. You see, drift happens when you begin to fall away from those realities of Scripture. Your confidence isn't there. The Christ that's portrayed there. Your confidence isn't there anymore.

Brethren, the truth is I need to be saved today. And even more, I'm going to be needing to be saved tomorrow. Especially on that day when the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Brethren, when the wrath of God is unleashed, when it's judgment day and we come to stand before Him, I need to be saved from the wrath of God.

And this is precisely the way the Scripture speaks. It does speak this way. You have this reality. Since therefore, we have now been justified. Listen to the verb tenses here. We have now been justified.

What a truth. My sins are forgiven. I am just in the courtroom of God. But, we have now been justified by His blood. Much more shall we be saved by Christ from the wrath of God. That's future. For while we were enemies, we were, past tense, reconciled to God.

So we're justified as Christians. We are reconciled to God. But, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved. We shall be saved by His life. Scripture speaks of it like this. Salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed.

Do you think that way? Salvation is nearer. We're so past tense oriented. I think it just comes from this prominence of our minionism which so reigned for so long in this country. Once saved, always saved.

That mentality is just so pervasive. And yet, Scripture does not speak simply. It does. It does. There are past realities. We can't get away from that. So Christ having been offered once to bear the sins of many will appear a second time.

What happens when He appears? Not to deal with sin, but to save those who are eagerly waiting for Him. When He comes, He saves us. It's a future thing. A salvation ready to be revealed in the last time is what Peter says.

After we've endured. See, it's future. If you endure, you will be saved. A man begins to build a house. He lays the foundation. I mean, if I drive by and I see that, am I going to say, there's a builder for you?

Well, if I say it like that, I'm only being sarcastic. I lay a foundation. He doesn't build a house. He doesn't make it. I mean, I wouldn't call a guy a mountain climber if it's like, well, he never makes it out of the tree line.

This is the reality. Do we give football players praise because they had one good drive down the field and scored a touchdown? Do we say, praise him? It's the guy who does it 50 times in a season. You praise him.

Do we look at a guy and say, there's a warrior. There is a conqueror. There's a great knight or a great warrior or a great soldier. I mean, do we put these accolades? Oh, he's special forces. What's special about him?

Well, he made it up a hill in one charge one time. No, we don't do that. The truth is it's the people that persevere. It's the people that stay in the war right to the end. Napoleon said this, conquest has made me what I am and conquest must maintain me.

And so it is with the Christian. Under God, conquest has made us what we are. More than conquerors. Isn't that how Scripture speaks? Conquest must sustain us. The one who endures to the end will be saved.