Remain Standing Till the End

You know, over the years, we have emphasized the importance and the need to grow spiritually. Now, I hope that is still uppermost in your mind. I think we have tried to hammer that into the church. Ever since I've been in the church, we've been talking about growing. I think that's the uniqueness of the United Church of God. We are a growing people. You know, from the very get-go, from the time you are called, you're talking about adding knowledge, adding understanding, and growing spiritually speaking. But, you know, there is a crucial element for spiritual growth which can make or break our efforts to grow. There's a crucial element I want to talk about in the course of this sermon here today. Let's go to Hebrews 10. Hebrews 10.

In verse 35, but undound through here, it says, Therefore, do not cast away your confidence. Remember when you come into the church, you're brand new to the church, and you have a lot of confidence. But don't cast away that confidence, you know, Paul is saying, which has great reward. There's great reward with that attitude, that submissive attitude and willingness to obey God. And it says, For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, after you have obeyed God, you're growing, you've come to a greater understanding of God's way of life, after you've done the will of God, you may receive the promise.

So here he says, this is going to make or break whether or not we are going to be in the kingdom of God. Here is what he's saying here. Unless we have the endurance, no matter what we know, no matter what we understand, we're not going to get the promise. We've got to endure. We have to endure. To receive salvation, to receive the rewards, we need to burn the bridges behind us and not look back and keep looking forward. To always keep looking forward in our lives. Matthew 24. Matthew 24. Let's go over here to verse 13. That one of the messages of Jesus Christ that he gave to his disciples in his earthly ministry in Matthew 24 verse 13.

Let's notice here. Here Jesus himself says, and I'll just read this one verse here, but he that endures to the end shall be saved. He that endures to the end. You know, we operate in a world where people think that, well, when you accept Jesus as your Lord and your Savior, you're saved.

How many people in the Protestant world believe that? That they're saved. You see the word, chow here? We aren't saved yet. Oh, I know we have God's Spirit, but we're not saved yet. We are not saved, brethren, until this human flesh becomes eternal spirit. Until we are truly born again from this human flesh, and we are spirit. But whoever is going to be saved is that individual that endures. Well, you know, what did Jesus Christ mean, though?

He that endures shall be saved. And what must be endure before the end comes? Before it comes and it's coming, brethren. You know, our eternal salvation depends on our truly understanding these vital questions. What did Jesus Christ mean here? A question here, which will form the basis of the SPS for the message here this morning. How can we remain standing and endure to the end so that we can receive salvation? How can we remain standing so that we can receive the reward of salvation? Okay. You see, there is a need, the Bible says, for perseverance to attain the goal of the kingdom.

No matter what we know, if we don't endure, it won't matter. There are a lot of people that had understanding like you got and I've got right now. But look around you. Are they here today? Are they doing anything today? Are they enduring today? No. If you look back through the pages of church history, and I would dare say even your own church history, you know, sometimes I sit down a little bit and I think about all the people I've known.

You know, God called me back in the 60s, who have come and gone. You know, people I had a great deal of love for and a great deal of respect for. Still have the love, you know, for them. I may not necessarily respect what they did and what they've done. But history is a graveyard of people who are called to this marvelous calling, brethren, that we've been given, who didn't stand fast till the end. They're not with us anymore. Another Greek word for endure that Jesus Christ used in Matthew 24 is hypomene.

Hypomene might be mene. It's spelled H-U-P-O-M-E-N-O. And it means to suffer, to be willing to suffer, to be steadfast, to persevere, or to have fortitude. This word fortitude carries a different depth of meaning that we within ourselves, brethren, are making a gallant effort. We are applying ourselves. Maybe we don't feel like it. The difference between, you know, somebody that's successful and somebody that's not successful. The successful person's going to get up in the morning, even when they don't feel like it, and they're going to hit the day.

You might feel like just rolling over and going back to sleep. So that's the person, of course, that is probably not going to be successful. I think it was Jimmy Carter who made the comment that he could get up at six o'clock in the morning and be president, or he could get up at nine o'clock. And, of course, not. He could be rested, but he wouldn't be president. So he pushed himself in his life and anybody, frankly, that is going to be successful, even in the physical realm. We're talking about spiritual things. He has to make a commitment and carry through with that commitment. Now, sometimes I've looked at programs that Mr. Armstrong did. I talked to Mr. LaRavia about this, and I asked Mr. LaRavia, how were you, Mr. LaRavia, when Mr. Armstrong went to Japan? And he spoke to, I mean, there were maybe 3,000 workers in the auditorium that day. All of these were young workers. And Mr. Armstrong talked about the seven laws of success. He was 92 years old. Ninety-two. And I said, Mr. LaRavia, how old were you at that time? And he said, I was 55.

He is now going to be about 89 here very shortly. He's pushing. And by the way, he wanted me to convey his greetings to everybody up here and how much he does love the brethren in the Phoenix area.

But Mr. Armstrong had to get up and push himself. Mr. LaRavia has to do that. Anybody that succeeds, brethren, has to do that. And we as Christians must push ourselves and to show that fortitude, the fortitude, the abdominal fortitude. Peter gave a number of crucial steps to ensure so that we can ensure our salvation. You know, we don't want to slip into the kingdom, you know, by the skin of our teeth. We want to ensure our salvation. We want to make sure that we can be there. Over here in 2 Peter, and if you haven't read these verses over here, I encourage you to do it, to go over it. But here in 2 Peter chapter 1 and down in verse 5 and 6 here, in 2 Peter chapter 1 and verse 5, he says, But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, and to knowledge self-control. Here he talks about different things that a Christian has to have. And later he says that we can ensure salvation. We can ensure and ensure our election. But notice verse 6, and to knowledge self-control, and to self-control perseverance, perseverance or endurance. And it says to perseverance godliness. I'm not going to go through all of this. I encourage you to study it. Are these things in your life, brethren, so that you can endure, so that you can get the prize at the end of it all, so you can stand to the very end. You know, we are in a very real war as God's people. We are fighting to survive. And I'll tell you there is an arch-enemy that will do anything to make you cave in, to make you give up. He will do anything. He will give you anything, frankly. Of course, it will only be short term because he's not going to have it forever himself. And he knows that. And there comes a time where Satan knows his time is short. He didn't have very much time. And so he pulls all stops out in order to throw us off the track. So, brethren, we must learn to persevere, to endure. You know, God's characteristic is that he will not compromise one iota on his law. He just won't do it. And you know, our character ought to be that too. We won't compromise God's law either. You know, we're not going to compromise what God has commanded us to do. We don't compromise just because we have a trial in our life. We do what is right. We do what God commands us to do. So here Peter, the Apostle Peter, gave this sterling advice to us if we want to win the prize, just like Christ said, we've got to endure to the very end. Now, why do we need perseverance? Because through perseverance, brethren, we grow spiritually. That's how we grow. You know, we don't have any 90-day wonders of the church. You know, when it comes to the church and, you know, 90 days later, there are evangelists in the church, you know. Just doesn't happen, does it? Takes a long time to learn and to grow. Growing, you know, if you ever try a grower, I'm not very good at growing green things. I've got a black thumb. I don't have a green thumb when it comes to growing Greek things. My mother was very good at that. She could grow anything, it seems. Our yard was always full of flowers and all kinds of stuff. You know, she had rose trellises on the front porch and everything, and she just loved, you know, flowers. But growing things takes a little time. It takes skill. You have to have skill in order to grow something. You know, growing, brethren, spiritually takes time, and it takes skill as well. On our part, we have to learn how to do it, how to change, how to be molded in the hand of God. It's like, look at our children, brethren. Educating our children doesn't occur overnight. It would be nice if it did, right?

How many parents here, you know, if you had several children, you spent most of your life going back and forth to school. You went to school more than your children did, right? To train your kids. You know, it takes many years to teach a child.

Formal education typically takes 16 years. And if, and for some of us, it took a little longer than that. I think I've gone to school, I went to school, former education, formal education, 19 years of my life in a classroom. And of course, that's besides the ministerial training.

But it takes a long time to be educated. Because you don't have to go to college, and it would be 12 years otherwise, but you're probably going to have to get some training of some sort for your job. Likewise, brethren, spiritual education can take many, many years. Time is a necessary factor. Again, there are no 90-day wonders.

But what if you've been in the church 20 or 30 or 40 years? Don't you think, brethren, that God has a certain expectation of all of us that we've learned some things?

That we don't have to be taught what repentance is. We don't have to be taught what baptism is, or the laying on of hands, or getting anointed when you're sick. We don't have to be taught about those things, because we know it. We don't have to be taught we shouldn't be eating pork.

We don't have to be taught some of these very basic things, even tithing for that matter. That it should be, by now, it should be second nature to us. We don't even think about it, we just do it, because it's a part of our character. But let's notice in Hebrews, Hebrews a little bit from where you are there, in chapter 5, here Paul was talking to the church at large, Israel at large, the church of God, that was scattered abroad even. But in Hebrews 5 and verse 12, Paul wrote, For though by this time, you ought to be teachers. You ought to be teachers. You need someone to teach you again. The first principles of the oracles are the laws of God. And you have come to need milk and not solid food. You know, that would be an indictment if God had to say that about us, that we need somebody to teach us about milk type stuff now. We can't eat meat.

But Paul rightfully here rebuked some who simply hadn't grown.

Well, brethren, we can't weary in well-doing. We've got to keep moving forward. Once we learn about the Sabbath, you have to learn more in depth about how to keep the Sabbath and how to do it properly. Once you know about other things of God's law, you learn more about the depth of it. Because it is deep, we could understand it in a greater way to understand God's great plan that he has for mankind and for each of us individually. Hebrews chapter 10, Hebrews chapter 10, just there where you are. Let's go down here to verse 36. Again, it says, for you have need of endurance, so that after you've done the will of God, you may receive the promise. So we need perseverance to grow spiritually if we're going to reap the benefits, reap the rewards in our head. You know, Strongs, by the way, this word patience that is used here is hupomone, as I mentioned before, but it means cheerful endurance. That's a different kind of endurance, isn't it? Not just endurance, but you cheerfully endure. One of the things I mentioned, we gather with our elders this Wednesday. We, in fact, met Dannick Garcia, so I was talking about in the early days of the church. I remember people, when they learned the truth of God, I mean, they were on fire, and they came to church, and they were all ears.

They wanted to hear what was said so they could implement. They could put it into practice. And, you know, when I began to think about it, it put me in mind of Israel and what God considered very important with regard to ancient Israel. When God made a covenant with them, you know what? Their attitude was this. They committed, first of all, to obey God.

They said, we're going to obey God. And second of all, they said, we're going to listen. We're going to listen. Now, think about that. That is the way people were, you know, many years ago in the church. When they heard the truth, they said, okay, I'm committed now to obey. It doesn't matter what it is, God. I'm going to do it. And then they said, I'm going to listen. I'm going to hear what's being said. Is that your attitude still today, brother? Do you have that attitude? Are you committed to obey God? No matter what. And secondarily, you're always going to be listening, and you're always going to be applying what God is teaching. You know, we really need that attitude in all of God's people. We really do. I'd like to see that happen in the new people coming into the church. And I think for many of them, it truly is. It truly is. People have that attitude, but you've got to keep it. You've got to keep it all of your life, all of your converted life. So, number one, we need perseverance, brethren, to grow spiritually.

Number two, brethren, and I have seven points, brief points I'm going to give to you, but spiritual growth requires repetition to grow in holy righteous character. You've got to have repetition. Repetition is implied in the principle of reaping and sowing. Let's go over to 2 Corinthians chapter 9, 2 Corinthians chapter 9, just one verse we'll turn to. But in 2 Corinthians chapter 9, in verse 6, let's notice this. But this I say, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.

Now, repetition, when we were talking about reaping and sowing, or sowing and reaping, is implied in the principle. We just keep sowing. We keep sowing, and why don't we keep sowing in our lives? Right now, if your mind is being open, you have an open mind, you can choose to do that or not. You are sowing because you're letting seed be planted in your mind. But what is the reason why you want to have this seed planted in your mind so that you can grow? That's the reward. That's the reaping part of it. You know, we have to be willing to sow by being willing to listen, and then we're going to reap the knowledge, and we're going to be able to apply that to build holy righteous character. The end result, basically, of sowing is to reap character. We want the character. We want to be transformed. Remember, you read the book of Revelation, what God says to all of the churches that the overcomers of the ones are going to inherit the promises. Only the overcomers are going to do it. And, brethren, that overcoming doesn't stop when we get baptized. It never stops until you and I, you know, either were pushing up daisies, as they say, or Christ has returned. Christ has come. You know, it takes repetition, too, brethren, to overcome mistakes. I mean, how many of us get it right the first time? I mean, none of us do. We never get it right the first time. It's like the first time I ever kept the Day of Atonement. You know, I remember I think I've told you this. I was very conscious, anxious about what I was doing, but I guess I was focused a little bit too much in the wrong way. But I remember I thought, well, God says we shouldn't eat or drink on the Day of Atonement. But I took a shower, man. I wouldn't even let water get in my mouth.

You know, I was, you know, I thought, well, God didn't want me to even swallow my own spit, you know. And of course, that's going a little bit too far, right?

Misguided. But you learn. I learned, of course, after the first Day of Atonement. And you learn the next day. You learn, of course, up until the Day of Atonement and beyond. You continue to learn, but it takes repetition to reap the character. No, we are all, you know, no matter how long we've been in the Church, compared to Almighty God, we are babies. All of us are. But you're like a baby, the infant, a child, you know, it takes a while through experimentation until they can walk. I mean, how many times does a baby fall before they learn how to walk?

Well, that's the way we are. It takes repetition. You keep getting up. And, you know, you think about it. What if a baby, after crying one time and failing, said, well, I can't do it. I can't do it. They never have learned how to walk, right? So you and I have to, we have to fall down, as it were, to learn how to stand up. And so we strive through repetition. Until we get it right, we get it right. We're hitting the nail on the head, as they say. Now, sin in the Bible, 1 John 3, verse 4, I'm not going to go there, but sin is transgression of the law of God. And the word sin in the Greek, basically, means to miss the mark. To miss the mark. It's like, you know, when we were kids, we used to play darts.

And, you know, they used to, of course, now they don't have the ones with real points on them. But back in the day, we used to have the real pointed ones with the sharp. But, you know, how you throw at the dartboard and they have these areas where you get a certain amount of points, you're within range of the bullseye. You get the most points at the bullseye. Well, sin is missing the mark. Sin is missing the bullseye.

And we want to train ourselves, brother, to hit that bullseye every time. We want to be the Robin Hood, you know, of archery when it comes, you know, to darts. And it hit the bullseye every time and always keep God's law and never compromise, you see. So, we always want to hit that bullseye, but it takes work. It takes effort to hit the bullseye. And I would dare say, for you, I know as it is for me, there are some things I don't have any problem hitting the bullseye every time. I'm sure God could see flaws of what I do. And I pray He shows me if I'm doing something wrong. But some things I think I am hitting the bullseye. But boy, there are some things, you know, you start trying to throw that dart, and it is hard to hit that bullseye with it, you know, through different reasons for different problems that we may personally have ourselves. But we grow in the grace and knowledge of God, and we become more precise the longer we live. We learn, and we build that character. And in fact, this is, brethren, the building of character process in us. That's what it's about. There are many of us here that have been called, brethren. You know, we have all made mistakes, and we have sinned. We just used the word, you know. A lot of times, you know, more today, people want to use a different word. Well, He made a mistake, you know, full pawn is life. He fell down, or He did that. Let's just call it what it is. Sin. We sinned.

We got to repent. Got to get back up, and we got to throw the dart again. And eventually, we'll get it. We'll get it. And let me tell you when you're going to get it right, brethren. The time you're going to get it right is you won't. You're always going to be growing. You're always going to be changing. And you're going to draw your last breath before you're going to get it perfect.

But when you are raised incorruptible, then you will, God will put in you what you couldn't with His help in this flesh. And we'll have that character that will be set for eternity in us that God will give to us. So we need to keep that character-building process going on in our life. It never ends. It really never ends. Let's go to Ephesians 6 over here. Ephesians 6. We've been emphasizing in the youth lessons, the Deuteronomy 6 lessons that we've been doing that have been very good, I think, exercise for our young people and our parents as well in the church, for that matter. But here, notice in Ephesians 6, he's talking about the armor of God here. And we need to be consistent, brethren, using all the elements of the armor that's spoken of here so that we can remain standing until the battle is over, until the very end. But here in verse 13, let's notice this, therefore take up the whole armor of God. Why? Why do you need the whole armor of God?

That you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand. You see, the goal when we're fighting the battle, and we're in a very real war right now, brethren, that we're fighting as we fight against our own human nature, is that we want to be still standing when it's all over, right? We're in the battle. We don't want to be on the ground. That's where the dead people are going to be. That's where the people that do not make it will be, collapsing on the field. We want to have our sword in hand. We want to have the armor on and be standing until, brethren, we have given the opportunity to have that eternal life in the kingdom of God. Point number three, if you're writing down these points, and the importance of perseverance is beware, brethren, of the danger of retro-gressing in your spiritual life. Be aware of it. It's a danger, a very real danger. Sometimes, sometimes those who have been called to our grand and glorious calling, brethren, not only don't roll, but they're retro-gressing. They're not even holding their own. They're going backward in their spiritual growth. It's like they used to say, I remember the Baptist Church I used to go to, they backslid. They backslide back into what they came out of. The Bible has a lot to say about that, brethren, and the dangers of that. We've got to be very, very careful. You know why that is so bad, so terrible? When we start retro-gressing in our lives, the reason is, if you made headway in your life and you overcame and you changed, and then you go back, you know, it's like this hard-fought battle you had to overcome something the next time is going to be doubly hard to change and to get back on the track.

And so it's important not to compromise. Keep pushing forward, brethren, in your life. I know again we all are human, and we all just need God's help. We need His mercy, brethren. But God needs a commitment from us. It's like I've always said to people, you know, God can only bless an effort. If we don't make any effort, if I don't make any effort, then how can I expect God to be helping me? I've got to lift my hand up. I've got to put one foot in front of the other, and I've got to do something.

Then I've got to apply myself, and all of us have to do that, brethren, for God to bless us in our life. God's not going to do it for you.

It's like sometimes when people do have injuries of their life. I've always emphasized to people, look, you don't depend on somebody else giving you therapy for your problem.

It's fine to get therapy, brethren. But what we need to do is do our own therapy.

If you've got a problem with a physical ailment, you push yourself. Again, you can overdo it. I understand that. You push yourself, and God will give you help, and you'll make a whole lot more headway if you're depending on everybody else to give you therapy.

You know, I think it's so very important, having been down that road now a couple of times, I think I understand that a little more. Because I've had to do my own therapy for different things, and I tended to push myself harder than anybody else would. I expect, you know, I want to get well. I want to be able to get back on my feet. I want to be able to function. And all of us want to do that not only physically, but we want to do it spiritually, where we can be of help, not only by doing it to help ourselves, but to help other people as well, to encourage them to move forward. So be careful again about the dangers, brethren, of retrogressing. Let's go to Revelation chapter 2 over here. In Revelation chapter 2, I said the dangers of retrogressing. What does that mean? What do I mean dangers of retrogressing? We're talking about something really dangerous? In what way? What do you mean? Well, here in Revelation 2 and verse 1, it says, in the angel of the church of Ephesus, write this, these things as he that holds the seven stars in his right hand. Who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands? That's Jesus Christ. We've always said that Jesus Christ walks in our midst, in the midst of the churches.

And so he's right smack dab in the middle of the congregation. He knows what we're doing and what we're not doing. But going on here, and it says, I know your works. He's saying of the church at Ephesus, your labor, your patience. And that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you've tested those who say they are apostles or not and have found them liars. And you have persevered. Interestingly, they even endured certain things and have patience and have labored for my namesake and have not been weary, become weary. So these were diligent people overall. Nevertheless, I have this against you that you have left your first love.

Somehow, they lost the same zeal, the same love that they had. And notice here, remember, therefore, from where you have fallen, they fell down here. They gave up something that was very prized. That's why I talk about in the old days of the church, people's attitudes that they had. That they had the same attitudes ancient Israel had as, I will obey God and I'm going to be listening. And, you know, hints in the church, many people, when sermons were given, they were taking notes, just copious notes, and they would take them home and they would read them and study them during the week. And they would apply them to their lives.

So, you know, here God says, remember from where you fall and repent, do the first works. Or else, oh, I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place unless you repent. You see, unless we keep persevering, applying God's truth, being diligent about what we're doing, we could have our lampstand removed. Now, I know we've applied this to eras or epics of the church, but in principle it could affect us as well. So beware, brethren, of the danger of retro-gressing. Second, Peter, another very important verse over here. In a time when Peter was having to deal with, unfortunately, he was having to deal with people who were coming in and taking advantage of the brethren, and they were doing it for profit for themselves. There were people that were, again, turning people away from God and back into the world. But here in 2 Peter 2 and down in verse 20, let's notice here, for if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the eternal Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them. Then the beginning, or I'm sorry, here I jumped ahead here, in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than at the beginning. In other words, when we received the knowledge of the truth, and did we you know backslide, as it were, knowing if we retrogressed in our lives and we lose ground, it could be worse for us than if we had never known God. And I think, brethren, of the hundreds of people that have gone out from us, many of them once again embracing what they came out of before. How could God reach them? If He's already done that with them, it's going to be more difficult, right, before they see the truth. It's going to be hard for them. In some cases, it might be impossible if they knew exactly what they were doing, and it may cost them their eternal life altogether. In verse 21, for it would have been better for them not to have known, to have never been called, to never had their mind open, the way of righteousness than having known it, to turn from the Holy Commandment delivered to them. But it has happened to them, according to the true proverb, a dog returns to his own vomit, and a sow, having washed and all cleaned up to her wallowing in the mire. You know, that's what God would liken it to, that God brought us out of the filth of this world and brought us into the church and cleaned us up.

And we just go right back to that. Well, brethren, that's a real danger, and we need to, again, do all we can do to keep persevering, to keep pushing forward. And I'll preach that myself until my last breath is drawn. I'll talk about overcoming until I cannot talk about anything at all. That's what I intend to do. Number four, number four, perseverance, brethren, is exercising daily self-discipline, daily self-discipline. We need to be, brethren, as God's people, always disciplining ourselves. Now, I'm not going to go back to 2 Peter chapter 1 verse 6. We already read that verse, but in addition to perseverance, we have to have self-control, and that is self-discipline.

We're disciplining ourselves, and we have to do that on a daily basis, brethren. And when we do, we do that, and we put it together, brethren. Day after day after day, it produces perseverance.

It's a part of our character, it becomes a part of our character to control ourselves. We develop good habits. Now, I've heard it said that if you do something 30 days, that that becomes a habit for you. You know, we've obviously should have been doing something for years and years and years of our lives. The longer we do it, the longer it's, again, going to remain a part of our character. So we need to, again, be very, very much disciplining ourselves. We need to be temperate in all things. We need to be careful, again, not to go back to the things we came out of. You know, if we were into alcoholism, or even some drug addiction, or sexual immorality, and not go back into that kind of stuff, but to stay out of it.

You know, if we didn't tithe, then we continue, of course, to tithe once we learn. That we're temperate in all things. We're temperate not only in the things that God commands us in His law, you know, where we have specific instructions, but we have instructions about health, and we're even careful about our health. We're careful, again, about Sabbath attendance. We're careful about prayer, making sure we're praying every day. You're praying for God's kingdom to come, as Jesus commanded us to do. And we're praying that we'll escape the time of trouble that's coming, and to stand before the Son of Man when He returns. That's what Jesus Christ said we should be praying every day. Have we made it a habit to do that? You know, if you do something for many, many years, you feel different when you don't do it. I know I've developed certain habits of prayer, and I like to do it at certain times of day, you know. And usually I end up doing most of my prayer night when it's quiet. You know, we had three boys in our house for a long time, and that just a habit you get into. I pray more in the evening than I do, you know, in the morning. I try to pray a few times a day, as we're told to do, and to talk to God about things, to ask Him during the course of the day, help me to have more of your spirit that I can see where I'm going wrong. If I do something wrong, then you show me that. Which way I should go. Ensuring success, brethren, in our calling is paved with small steps along the way, on a daily basis. Again, as the Bible says, the inward man is renewed day by day. The outward man, I'm not going to go to 2 Corinthians 4 verse 16, but you might have that verse and refer to it. The outward man, well, what we're trying to do, brethren, is gut. Forgive me for using such a word that maybe is a little more graphic. We need to gut out of ourselves the old man and bring in the new man, or the new woman, however you want to put it, the new person in us, so that the old man is dying. He's breathing his last breath. What we did symbolically in the baptismal pool, we're doing literally in terms of our character. We're gutting the old man out and we're bringing the new man in. And we're changing, and we're making that transformation. It's interesting, the word, by the way, talks about the renewing of this new man. The word in the Greek actually means renovate. It's like whenever we moved down here to Phoenix, we had to buy a house and we had to go in and renovate. And I know Mr. Paisley there, David Paisley, I believe you've done renovations of apartments and things like that. Sometimes you just have to go in and you have to gut it, right? And then you bring in all the new stuff. Well, that's what we have to do, Reverend, to renovate ourselves. Another way of putting it is to reinvent yourself, except this time you're reinventing yourself in the image of Christ. Paul says, imitate me as I follow Christ. And we are to imitate Christ. He's our perfect example, Reverend. The new man results, again, by renewing ourselves on a daily basis. And it never stops. But point number five, perseverance includes growing to brethren with God's people, growing with God's people. You know, sometimes we can be loners in the church.

I know one of the things we had to deal with in Idaho is sometimes, you know, when people go to Idaho, a lot of times the reason they moved to Idaho is to get away from people. I don't know how many sermons I would give in Idaho about, well, God has not called you to get away from people. Hasn't called me to do that. He didn't call me to clear out into the hinder lands. And by the way, some of you may think I do live in the hinder lands of Maricopa, but, you know, we're not too far away from the church. But God hasn't called me to go and live in a cave apart from human beings. He just hasn't done that. And guess what? The kingdom of God, you know what it's going to have? People. Anyway, here's the scary thing. People like you are going to be in the kingdom. People like you and people like me. So, perseverance involves growing with God's people. I don't know how many times, you know, when I was, we'd go to the Ambassador Club and I've spoke to those clubs over the years, you know, you know how a lot of the men, of course, if you look back in the old days, like Mr. Miller and some of the others that are here have been around a long time. You go back to the old days that spoke to this club. I don't know how many years, how many years did you have in the spokes of this club, Mr. Miller? Yeah, that, what he says, I don't have any ideas, but it was a long time. I think I went to spokes of this club myself. I think, you know, in the ministry, maybe 35 years of club. I used to say I've been club to death, you know, but including Ambassador Club, maybe close to 40 years of clubs.

But you know what? You get so close to people, you learn about them. I remember in years ago, men would carpool with one another and they'd just have a ball talking to each other and visiting with each other and fellowshipping with each other. But perseverance, brethren, in being with and in the company of other people that are striving to be righteous in their life, you know, it can help us to grow rapidly, very rapidly. If we learn from other people, we don't have to go to the school of hard knocks. We can listen to what other people have to say, how to do things in our life. And don't get me wrong, everybody in the church is not perfect. I'm not saying that. But there are many of God's people, and I pray a lion's share of them, that are fully committed to be in the kingdom. And we can learn a lot from each other. So perseverance involves, again, growing with one another. You know, I was talking to my wife coming over here, you know, we got all these splits and systems in the end days here. When the king of God is set up, Jesus Christ sets us up as government. What's he going to say? Well, you're part of United, you'll be over here, you know, and you're part of this other group. Now you'll be over on this other side. I think, brethren, God is going to do a little chewing out at the beginning of the Millennium, and he's going to have to set a lot of people straight, maybe you and me, before it's all set and done. But we need to learn to get along with each other. I think we've had enough splits and systems, haven't we? But you know, Satan is the one that's the culprit because he has scattered the power of the holy people, as it talks about in Daniel 12. Satan has done that.

And maybe there's a purpose behind it we don't see right now. I don't mean that it's totally wrong. It might be a purpose we do not see at this particular time. I think things are coming down the pike, where all of us are going to be in jeopardy. I don't care what group we are in. And we're going to be in—and I'm talking about the Church of God groups. You know, all of us are going to be in jeopardy. It won't matter for the future when the persecution really begins to happen, really begins to set up. Let's go to 1 John chapter 4. But again, perseverance involves, brethren, other people. That's why when you're sitting here in this auditorium, it's not me standing up here and talking to one person. You've got somebody on the right or left or behind you or in front of you. But here in 1 John chapter 1 and verse 3, let's notice here, that which we have seen and heard, we declare to you that you also may have fellowship with us. So here John is saying, whatever the truth was, we preached it to you, we taught it to you, so you could have fellowship with us. Because you, again, you want somebody to be of like minds.

And so that's what, again, John is saying here. And truly, he says, our fellowship is with a Father and his Son, Jesus Christ. So when we fellowship with each other, in reality, Jesus is our midst. We're fellowshiping with Jesus Christ and the Father in heaven. Jesus said, you see me, you see the Father. And verse 4 here, and it says, and these things we write to you that your joy may be full. Think about that. That you might have a full joy, not only from the truth that you're hearing, but from the fellowship. You can't have the full joy of having God's Spirit, knowing the truth, brethren, without your brothers, without people of like minds. You need. I need you. I need you. Like a husband needs a wife, and a wife needs a husband. And husband and wife need their children. The children need the parents as well, the grandparents. And we need each other, brethren. And our joy, again, our full joy. As I look back through my own history, my wife and I, our joy came from being with God's people. Really. Every time you get together with people, you talk about, remember this, remember that, and you build new memories as well. And like I always tell people, you know, we're going to be in God's family for eternity. I'm going to know you forever. Think about it. Every person in this room right now, you're going to know forever. A million years from now, you're going to say, yeah, I remember back then. They will never cease to be a part of your family, and that will be God's family. Keep that in mind. It should encourage us to get along, right? Since we're going to know each other and be with each other for eternity, we want to be able to trust each other. So the great joy in our calling comes through fellowship with one another. We need each other, brethren. One thing, which those call will always seek is fellowship with those like-minded. We yearn to be with those who are striving for the same goal of the kingdom and to walk with Jesus Christ. We need to be with those who understand the need for perseverance, too. We need to be with people that this is not a short-term dedication for us. It is for eternity. Now, when we pray, do we pray, God, I want your truth, your laws, your commandments, your way of life in me forever.

I don't want to ever be out of your family.

I always want your favor, God. Thank you for what you've done for me. You've done so much for me. You know, God's way, brethren, is a tremendous joy, and the joy is from knowing each other, being with each other, sharing, you know, the experiences together with one another. We have the same goal. We're pushing for the very end. Let's go to Hebrews chapter 10 over here, Hebrews 10. Hebrews chapter 10, in verse 24, let's again look at this. I'm sure it's been read here a time or two in the last months. But it says in verse 24, and let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works. Brethren, are we striving in the Church of God to stir up love, closeness, camaraderie with each other, family orientation? Are we inviting people over our homes? Are we going over to their homes? Are we sharing time with each other? Are we visiting with each other? Are we staying around for fellowship? You know, are we talking with each other? Hello! Have you, has it been since you really just sat and you talked to God's people until they ran you out of the building? You know, we always used to talk, Joan and I would talk about how that we were always the last dog to die. You know, we'd stay around, of course, we didn't have another church to go to, until the last dog died, as they said. And then we would leave. Oftentimes, we didn't get home from church until 9 or 10 o'clock at night. That's without clubs. And if it was clubs, it was like midnight before we got home. A final point, rather, and a sixth point, I thought I had seven, but I have six here.

To persevere, we must keep our eye on the goal. Never lose sight of the goal. Never lose sight of that goal of the kingdom. Again, it's the pearl of great price you're seeking.

You've given everything you got for it. Not that God has it blessed us, abundantly. He's given us so much that, frankly, we, even if we didn't have salvation, quite frankly, He's blessed us so much that, you know, even what He's done in this physical life would be worth obeying God. And I say that with all sincerity. I know God has blessed us immensely, more than we deserve, I think, as Ramsey says, that God has blessed us. But here in Philippians 3, in verse 12, let's notice this. Here Paul says, not that I've already attained or am already perfected. No, that's the goal of being perfected. That's why we keep showing the self-discipline in our life daily, on a daily basis. But we press forward. But he says, I press on that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. God called you out of the world for this very reason.

And it says, brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended, but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead. And, brethren, the thing that is ahead that should be very big in the windshield, ahead of us is the kingdom of God and the return of Jesus Christ. I still think, brethren, it's not that far off for us. We hold on, hold on to the very end, endure to the very end so that we can receive the prize. And it says, I press for the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. He had that high goal of being in the kingdom of God. And receiving the prize, you know, we need to keep that again uppermost every day in our life. That's why we do the things we do. Let's go to finally over to Hebrews chapter 3 for a final scripture over here. In Hebrews chapter 3 and verse 12, here Paul writes again to the church at large, beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief. We can't allow ourselves to somehow have doubts about the choices that we have made. Remember, we burn bridges behind us. How silly it would be for us if we burn bridges behind us to go back and try to reconstruct those bridges to go back to the world. It was through unbelief that ancient Israel, you know, was kept from the promised land. And if we don't believe, brethren, we might not very well be in the kingdom. But it says, any of you an evil heart of unbelief and departing from the living God. Sad to say, I know people that have done this. They've left God.

You know, sometimes I check into the Ambassador College website, and there you have all these students that went to Ambassador College. It learned about the truth of God.

The most important knowledge a human being could learn, we learned in Ambassador College. I remember before I went to Ambassador College, I had an application to Oklahoma State University to go into medicine. And I had an application to go to Ambassador College.

And I said that, God, I'm going to fill out both of these applications. If you want me to go to Ambassador College, I'm going to get accepted there.

Well, I was accepted, and that's the choice I made. I don't regret it. One, I owe God. It's there I met my wife, my lovely wife. If I hadn't made that choice, I wouldn't have my son, Stephen, and my other children and grandchildren. I don't think any of those decisions I ever made were wrong. But I'm going to hang on for the price, because I think the best is yet to come. The best, brethren, is ahead of us. It is yet to come. Hang on, brethren, to the very end, so that you can win the prize. But he says in verse 13, But exhort one another daily, helping each other, brethren, encouraging each other, while it is called today. Let any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence, steadfastly to the end. We have this tremendous reward ahead, brethren, if we hold on until the very end. And, you know, that we do not slack in our calling. We're not late to see about what we do. We're striving to really put into practice all those new things we hear and remembering the things that we have heard over the years. But we keep pushing to the goal. We don't give up.

You know, we have spoken, as I mentioned, over admitting things in the church about how to grow spiritually. And indeed, we must apply all that the church has taught about growing spiritually, what we need to grow in. However, brethren, unless we learn this most important ingredient of perseverance, of endurance, we will fall. We will fail. Like Christ admonisters, brethren, He who endures to the end shall be saved. Well, brethren, I hope that you're standing until the very end so that you can receive the prize of eternal life and the kingdom of God. Hold on. It's coming. It's coming to us. If we can endure to that time.