Perseverance: The Law That Ensures Salvation

Well, good afternoon, everyone.

I’m sure most of us, many of us, have read or know of, at the very least, the booklet The Seven Laws of Success. If you haven’t read it or you didn’t know about it, I would suggest that you give this outstanding book a read. Because of the many powerful aspects of the booklet, one in particular is that it has seven laws, not one. It’s not called the one law of success. So it’s safe to assume that each of these laws alone will not bring about the success God wants us to have. And certainly, that case is powerfully made in that booklet.

My message today is about something that went beyond that. I realized something when I was going through the seven laws, and one in particular struck me powerfully. And I want to share it with you. And we’ll get to that in a moment. But first, I’m going to give a little bit of setup here. I want to talk a little bit. To succeed, Mr. Pack stresses the importance of, number one, setting the right goal. If you don’t have the right goal, which guides your direction, you’re setting yourself up for failure. So it is important that you set the right goal. He goes on to say that we need to educate ourselves. We need to maintain good health. We need to stay driven towards that goal.

And when things don’t go exactly as we expect, we need to demonstrate resourcefulness. It’s the fifth law. No one’s going to argue that these qualities are all vital for success in life. No doubt about it. Who could argue that? Mr. Pack further explains that true success, true success as the key element of the booklet, can only be achieved by following the law of staying connected with, seeking guidance from, and continually receiving help from God. It’s a lengthy law, but it encapsulates what is needed to have true success versus the world’s version of success.

Brethren, this is what leads to genuine success. But I also realize something. Many in God’s Church start out well. They set the right goals. I set the right goal. You set the right goal. But those who have left eventually abandon them. There are those who once sincerely sought God. There was no doubt in anyone’s mind that they were seeking God. But eventually, little by little, they lost more and more of God’s spirit, and over millennia, some lost it completely. How many of you have seen individuals who show up for the first time with great zeal for living God’s way of life? Powerful.

I enjoy it when somebody new comes into the Church. I see their zeal, their anxiousness to serve in every way, and serve God ultimately. It’s a real boost for the local congregations when we have new people come in, and I think God designs it that way. They work tremendously hard. But then we’ve seen also those same individuals, some of them, few of them, burn out as well. I know people who once lived very healthy lives, but over time, they begin to develop unhealthy habits that causes issues physically.

I know people once in the church who showed exceptional resourcefulness, who were once flexible, very flexible, and adaptable, able to roll with changes that were happening in their lives. Not doctrinal changes, certainly not. Maybe changes to our prophetic understanding. They didn’t show strength when they left. They slowly became rigid, not flexible. They didn’t become strong, although they might tell you that, they became brittle and eventually broke. Now, brethren, while each of these six laws will produce a measure of success, they do not secure a person’s ultimate success, salvation, entering the kingdom of God. Becoming an eternal God-being, eternal life, not even contact with guidance from and continuous help from God, in and of itself, can ensure eternal life.

Only the seventh law guarantees that you and I will enter the kingdom of God. Only the seventh law ensures salvation, eternal life, and Jesus explained this plainly. That’s what struck me. Let’s turn to Matthew twenty-four to begin. Matthew twenty-four. We’ll just read a very short statement. “Jesus said,” in verse thirteen. “...but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.” Now consider what Christ did not say. He did not say, he that sets the right goal shall be saved. He didn’t say, he that seeks God for days and months and years shall be saved. What about he that studies his Bible a lot shall be saved.

No. Here’s one. He didn’t say, he that works hard shall be saved. He that can roll with the punches and all the things that life can throw at him shall be saved. He didn’t say that either. Everything, absolutely everything, rides on this one phrase, but he that shall endure unto the end. Now that Greek word, many of you know it already, is hupomeno. Hupomeno. Now there is a word rooted in the old French that captures exactly what Christ is describing, and it’s made up of two parts, per, meaning through, and sévère. I hope I said that well.

Our French brethren are probably chuckling right now, I can hear it. And severe means difficulty, hardship, strictness, or pressure. If you put it together, it means to go through difficulty, to go through hardships, to remain under pressure. It comes from the French word persévère. You all know what I’m talking about. Let me ask you all a question, as I ask and challenge myself often, but particularly in the Days of Unleavened Bread, in the time leading up to the Passover, a pre-Passover self-examination. Is Christ describing you? Is Christ describing me?

We have set the right goal. But will we pursue that goal through whatever days or time that remains, whether it be months or years? Those who’ve left over millennia set the right goal. That’s what end means here. Tell us to set out for a definite point or a goal. Those who endure to the goal shall be saved. But for various reasons, they did not endure. They concluded that the cost was too high and the promise was too far off. Why do you think society, brethren, has developed this mentality of instant gratification? I don’t think it’s by coincidence. Satan knows what Christ said, endure to the end.

Parents want participation trophies for their children. I believe that they support it for an underlying reason. They themselves want a participation trophy in life. That’s what worldly Christianity is about. If I just participate, God will give me the reward. It just doesn’t work that way. God only rewards a crown of completion, not a trophy of participation. Again, think about these Days of Unleavened Bread. What do they mean? The challenge is whether we will keep leaven out, keep sin out of our lives once we’ve removed it.

Let’s go back to the law of success. We seek God. There’s not a person in this room that I place my eyes on that I don’t believe doesn’t seek God. I believe that all of us seek God. But do we drift from him during adversity? Do we forget him in times of prosperity? We are eager to learn at the beginning. Like I said, it’s great to see new faces come into the church. The eagerness to learn, I was eager to learn. But do we grow disinterested over time in hearing the same truths taught again and again and the same doctrines again and again?

We want to be healthy, but are we willing to live healthily every day? What about tomorrow? What about every day over our lifetimes? One day at a time, living healthily. Do we understand that drive is not an occasional burst of energy, but sustained effort until the goal is achieved? Will we remain resourceful, flexible when plans change, if doors close in our life, or circumstances shift unexpectedly in our marriages, with our children, at work, at school? Will we be resourceful? Will we be able to adapt? Or will we be like water that always chooses the path of least resistance?

As Mr. Pack explains, these laws by themselves are insufficient to ensure victory true success. These six only matter if they are sustained to the end. And they are only sustained by one all-important law, the law of perseverance. The perseverance that the Bible teaches, brethren, will carry us through every difficulty that life can bring us, regardless of the area that I’m talking that you can come up with. It will carry us through every difficulty until the end, until eternal life, until the goal, until salvation. So what does perseverance look like in real life? What does it look like when we are treated unjustly, sometimes by those closest to us?

What does perseverance look like when we are tempted or tested, delayed or pressured, young, old, everyone in between? God does not leave us guessing. In fact, the Bible is full of real men and women who face trials, they face difficulties, they face discouragement, they face delays, even suffering, and yet they continued to the end. Genesis thirty-seven Genesis thirty-seven The scriptures are full of examples, brethren, that teach us lessons about perseverance. Today, we’re going to look at hundreds. Yes, hundreds.

There are thousands of examples in the Bible. What? Thousands. Yes, thousands. But time only allows me to cover a few hundred. So let’s get started. And I could focus on those who failed also, but I’m not going to. I’m going to stick with the winners. Let’s begin with one of the clearest and most powerful examples. I want you to notice God’s pattern and how he begins working with his servants. Different lives, different circumstances, but the same starting point. Let’s start with Joseph. Verse five. Genesis thirty-seven and verse five. Let me get there with you.

“And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told his brothers, and they hated him yet more.” Verse six. “And he said to them, ‘Here I pray you, you won’t believe what just I just dreamed,’ little Joseph, young Joseph. “...for behold,” I don’t even know if he gave him a chance to say, hey, Joseph, we’re not interested. He just rolled right into their account. “...for behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and lo,” I don’t know if this is excitement, I may be imitating it wrong, but I’m going to go with it anyways. And he said to them, “...for behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and lo, my sheaf arose and also stood upright. And behold, your sheaves stood round about and made obeisance to my sheaf.”

And he dreamed yet another one in verse nine. And he told his brothers. Again, it doesn’t look like he paused or learned from the first, the reaction from the first one because it said that they hated him yet more. Well, now they’re about to envy him. He said, “Behold, I have dreamed a dream more. And behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me.” Joseph, Joseph, Joseph. His journey, starting from a very young age, and we’re going to get to that momentarily. Youth, I want you to stay with me on this. Two of the three servants that I’m going to initially point out here, and then we’ll roll into the hundreds, started at a very young age.

Joseph is a case study on perseverance. And here’s the first lesson that Joseph can teach us. To persevere, no different than the book, there must be a goal to reach. There must be one in place, a dream to realize, or a reward to receive. You cannot persevere or learn how to persevere if you don’t have the goal in front of you, the dream that you want to realize, the reward that you want to obtain. God revealed his plan for Joseph to serve his brothers, though he comes to realize that later on, not just rule over them, but serve them, not once, but twice.

He revealed it to them two times, God did. Not sure why, but that’s interesting. Sometimes we have to be reminded of our dreams. Maybe this message is one of those occasions for me and for all of you. And these weren’t run-of-the-mill dreams. You know what makes Joseph’s story of perseverance so special? That it began with God’s dream. God gave him this dream. Joseph didn’t come up with that dream himself. There’s nothing wrong with coming up with our own dreams, our own aspirations. But the greatest dreams to pursue in our lives are the ones that God gives us.

I can dream about success, and a career, and a wife, and a family, nothing wrong with those dreams. In fact, some of those dreams align perfectly with God’s will for all of us. But there are dreams and aspirations that we can have that God allows us to choose in our life, but the greatest dreams to pursue in our lives are the ones that God gives us. Now Joseph had no idea how this dream was going to be realized. He just had a dream. He just had to believe that they were true. Brethren, we need to believe that eternal life is just ahead. That membership in the eternal God Family is a goal that God has given you, has given me, has given all of us. And I believe that dream. And I’m sure each and every one of you believe that dream, too.

I don’t know how God is going to help me realize my arrival into the kingdom. I can’t tell you what he’s going to do day to day, what’s going to come at me, but two things are certain. Number one, that dream is clear. I know what my goal is. I know what God’s dream is for me. I will one day be in a position of rulership to help my family, my parents, my brothers, their families, my posterity, my ancestors. You have the same dream of one day being in a position of rulership to serve and help your families, just like Joseph did. That’s your dream. Similar to mine.

And I know, number two, if we persevere, God’s dream will also be given to them. Let’s go to Joshua. Going to this point about we must have a dream or a goal. You pick any great Bible character and you’re going to see that God gave them a dream to chase, a goal to reach, a reward to obtain. Joshua is no exception. Joshua one and verse one. “Now, after Moses’ death, it came to pass that the Lord spoke to Joshua, the son of Nun, Moses’ minister,” interesting term there. “Moses’ servant,” that’s instructive. “...saying, Moses, my servant is dead.

Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people in the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel. Every place the sole of your foot treads that I have given to you, as I said to Moses,” and then God lays out several boundaries, the boundaries in verse four. Verse five. “...there shall not any man be able to stand before you all the days of your life.” Now Joshua’s different than Joseph’s, didn’t start with a dream. God spoke directly to him. He gave it to him in the form of a command. And that command was going to lead him to a great reward.

“Every place the sole of your foot treads that I have given to you.” For the first time, Joshua, think about it, no longer heard from God through Moses. His goal, his reward, came as a direct instruction from God. And what makes this goal special is that Joshua wasn’t seeking it. He could have. His resume was strong, but he didn’t campaign for the position. Even though he had many years of experience, he did not appoint himself. God placed the responsibility on him, and we’ll see why later.

And consider the magnitude of what God entrusted to Joshua. Lead a whole nation into unfamiliar territory to face powerful enemies that wanted them utterly destroyed. Just your everyday task that God throws at someone. The thoughts must have been hard for Joshua to picture. We could easily picture Moses doing it, but to picture himself. Imagining myself ruling over cities and nations, even more difficult at times, brethren. It’s hard to fathom. If admittedly so, isn’t it hard for you to imagine managing millions, maybe billions of people over cities, territories, nations, and the kingdom? This was not a small task. You know what it required? Perseverance. But it wouldn’t have required perseverance if that goal wasn’t given to him.

Our goal is far greater than Joshua’s. Think about it. He was persevering for physical rewards. Certainly, he’ll obtain his spiritual one as well, but we must persevere to take hold of a reward that eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor entered into the heart of man. That’s how big God has made our goal, our reward, our mission, but not just Joseph and Joshua. Remember, to persevere, there must be a goal to reach, a dream to realize, or a reward to receive. Let’s turn to First Samuel sixteen for another example, a third example. I don’t have to go far.

First Samuel sixteen. In verse one, “The Lord said to Samuel, ‘How long will you mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go, I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided me a king among his sons.’” Verse four. “And Samuel did that which the Lord spoke, and came to Bethlehem, and the elders of the town trembled at his coming, and said, ‘Are you coming in peace or is there something else that we need to know about?’” Just as long as I can run faster than the gentleman to my left and right, I think I’ll be okay. It’s kind of what they were saying at that point.

“And he said, I come peaceably, I am come to sacrifice to the Lord, sanctify yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice. And he sanctified Jesse and his sons, and called them to the sacrifice, and it came to pass, when they were come, that he looked on Eliab,” continue reading here. “...Abinadab, and Shammah.” Now think about those three names. I think he was running out of creative names because when he got to the last one, it was David. So we have Eliab, this is my son Eliab, no, Abinadab, and Shammah. You got anyone else? Because God says it’s none of these.

“And again, Jesse made seven of his sons,” verse ten. “...pass before Samuel, and Samuel said to Jesse, the Lord has not chosen these. And Samuel said to Jesse, ‘Are here all your children?’ And he said, ‘There remains the youngest, and behold, he keeps the sheep.’ We’ve got a sheep herder, kind of the run of the family. Good looking one, but he’s a run, after all. I can go get him. And Samuel said to Jesse, ‘Send and fetch him, for we will not sit down till he comes here.’ And he sent and brought him in. Now he was a ruddy and with all beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to. And the Lord said, ‘Arise, anoint him, for this is he.’” Who? The king of Israel.

And he was anointed king of Israel. Young people, that was in his teens. Just pause for a moment and think. It’s not that it was an if, no, it was certain. This is the prophet of God who’s come to your town and says, you’re the man. You are anointed king of Israel. Now David’s beginning is different from the previous two, but the pattern is the same. God gave him an anointing. He gave Joseph a dream, Joshua a command, and an anointing to David. But all three communicated God’s dream for each and every one of them. God didn’t give him a dream to work toward or a direct command to follow. What makes David’s journey of perseverance special is that God chose him, identified him, and anointed him.

God saw something in David that others could not see. David confounded God’s prophet, his father, and his older brothers. Continuing, verse thirteen. “Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers, and the spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward.” I don’t know about all of you, but I was living a fairly ordinary life before coming into God’s church. I had a beautiful wife. She still is. We were raising four beautiful daughters. In case they’re listening, they still are. But then God decided it was time to call us out of nowhere. And I’m certain it’s the same for each and every one of you, too.

Out of nowhere, God called each and every one of us. For we see our calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. David was anointed to be king. God gave us his spirit, too. We will be made kings and priests, and we shall reign on earth. That’s now. Young people, you have dreams and aspirations. I did, too. You want success? No problem. Recognition? Nothing wrong with that. Achievements? Go for it. I was no different. At your age, however, you are far ahead of me. Far ahead in the game compared to when I was your age. You have been given knowledge. You’re receiving knowledge that took me decades to finally discover or be revealed to me.

There’s nothing wrong with pursuing education, a job, a spouse, and a family. These are great dreams, wonderful aspirations. But the most important dreams, as I said earlier, the greatest aspirations anyone of us can pursue in life are the ones that God gives you. Those who are new, prospective members, newly baptized, consider you set the right goal when you answered God’s calling to repent and be baptized, to change. He wants you to learn. He wants you to stay healthy. He wants you to have drive, be motivated and resourceful, flexible, and remain close to Him. Why would He want that? Because he’s preparing people to rule in a kingdom and govern others, who will have the chance to do the same as we are doing right now.

That is our dream. That will be their dream. Or better said, it is the dream God has given us. And that dream is eternal life. Therefore, we must do what Joseph and Joshua and David and the hundreds we’ll cover today did. Genesis thirty-seven, let’s go back there. God does not ask a man or woman to persevere without first giving him or something worth enduring for. That’s the first lesson. But once God gives the goal, he does not fulfill it immediately. Never seen it. Past, present, and I’m pretty confident, future. So number two, God uses time to develop our ability to persevere. Time is the ultimate test of endurance.

Do you know what Joseph, Joshua, and David did after God gave them their goals? Well, Genesis thirty-seven, verse two. “Joseph being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brothers, tending sheep.” That’s what he was doing with that time. After those dreams, verse twelve. “And his brothers went to feed their father’s flock and Shechem. And Israel said to Joseph, do not your brothers feed the flock and Shechem? Come, and I will send you to them. And he said to him, ‘Here am I.’” Verse fourteen, remember this is Joseph, who had a great dream where everyone in his family was going to bow down to him.

“And he said to him,” this is Jacob or Israel speaking to Joseph. “...go, I pray you, see whether it be well with your brothers and well with the flocks and bring me word again.” Joseph was only seventeen when God gave him these great dreams, and immediately, right out of the gate, he became a messenger boy. That’s it. And that, my friends, that first job that he commissioned that he got as a messenger boy for Jacob to check on his brothers, we know it didn’t go well for Joseph. How many of you had a job or first job that didn’t go well? Well, this went a lot worse.

We revisit the story, but let’s... we could revisit the story, but let’s jump ahead in time to chapter forty-one. Chapter forty-one. Genesis forty-one and verse forty-six. We’re talking about time. God uses it to develop our ability to persevere. Genesis forty-one, forty-six. “And Joseph stood before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, when he was thirty years old.” Ladies and gentlemen, Joseph endured for thirteen years. God uses time to test our endurance. In Joseph’s case, thirteen long, thinking back to the definition, difficult, hard years had gone by. Not just thirteen days, it’d be great if we could accomplish our goals in thirteen days. Not thirteen months, but thirteen years.

Thirteen years filled with tests, struggles, hardships, setbacks, and pressures. How about that? For a dream, pursuing a dream. Any goal worth achieving, any dream worth realizing, whether it’s God’s or a personal one that aligns with God’s laws, anyone worth winning takes time. Time tests our ability to endure. God wanted to see how Joseph would endure through betrayal, through enslavement, false accusations, imprisonment, and being forgotten. But he also wanted to see how he would endure through prosperity, through good times. Continuing. But wait, was it thirteen years only? forty-seven “And the seven plenteous years, the earth brought forth handfuls.”

Verse fifty-three. “The seven years of plenteousness ended, and the seven years of dearth or famine began. Just as Joseph had said, and the dearth was in all lands, but in Egypt there was bread. And when all the land of Egypt was famished, the bread was running out, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread. And Pharaoh said, ‘Go to Joseph and do what he says.’ And Joseph opened all the storehouses and sold to the Egyptians, and the famine waxed sore.” Verse fifty-seven “And all countries came into Egypt to Joseph.”

But the dream didn’t end, or the dream wasn’t realized, when he was pulled out of prison, and the ring of Pharaoh was placed on his finger. He was dressed in a cloak, and he was riding in what would be the second beast. Here in the U.S., the president’s vehicle is called the beast. The vice president’s is the old model of it. He gets the hand-me-down of the beast. Joseph was riding in the second chariot. No one in Pharaoh’s house or in all of the land of Egypt could do anything unless Joseph gave the okay. That was at the thirteen-year mark. But God’s dream wasn’t realized.

Imagine you, seven years, vice president of a company, running your own company, success, money. God wants to see if you endure so that you pursue, continue pursuing his dream. Genesis forty-two. Let’s go over next chapter. Verse one. “And now when Jacob saw that there was corn in Egypt, Jacob said to his sons, ‘Why do you look one upon another? Why are you looking at each other? Stop looking at each other. We’ve got a problem here.’ And he said, ‘Behold, I have heard that there is corn in Egypt. Get down there and buy it from over there, that we may live and not die.’” This was a life-or-death situation that the family was facing.

And Joseph’s ten brothers, not Benjamin, went down to buy corn in Egypt, and Israel’s sons came to buy corn, for the famine was in the land of Canaan. And Joseph,” verse six. “...was the governor over the land, and Joseph’s brothers came and bowed down before him with their faces to the earth. Twenty years it took. Talk about time to realize the dream that God had given him. The dreams are finally realized. I have been in God’s church for over a decade. Not two. What could I possibly complain about? I find it ridiculous each time someone leaves because a date has come and passed. It’s taking too long. They leave because the Lord delays his coming.

If I could put it in very blunt terms, in light of Joseph’s story, give me a break. Joseph used the time well. All of it. How precious it is. I know some of you, as we were coming into the pre-Passover self-examination period, were hoping that we had a little bit more time so we can make the final adjustments that we needed to to qualify to take hold of the dream, of the prize, of the reward. Will we use the time that remains the same way that Joseph did?

Let’s go back to Joshua, Numbers fourteen. Numbers fourteen. Joshua didn’t have to persevere like Joseph. He went right to it. From marching orders to marching, right? Really? I want you to think, Joshua, and I alluded to it earlier, already had an impressive forty-year resume of perseverance. And we can forget that he started out like all the other Israelites. He was an Egyptian slave who faced Pharaoh and his army right there beside Moses. He walked through the Red Sea. He wandered for forty years. In verse thirty, Numbers fourteen. “Doubtless you shall not come into the land which I swore to make you dwell there and accept Caleb and Joshua. And then all those who were under the age of twenty.”

Joshua wandered for forty years to enter in the promised land. Joseph only had to wait twenty years to see God’s dream realized in his life. It was double the years, the number of years that Joshua had to persevere. He endured while others complained. He endured while others rebelled, quit, and died. Time revealed who would persevere, and you know how many? Two, Caleb and Joshua. Many are called, few are chosen. What separates the many from the chosen is perseverance. We have seen it all through the years. People who do not persevere are the ones, they complain a lot.

I think we heard in the sermonette something about that. He called it murmuring. I heard it as complaining. Same difference, as we would say. People who do not persevere are the ones who rebel, who quit, or die. First Samuel seventeen. That’s Joseph and Joshua. Let’s go back to David. We’ve got three covered, we’ve got hundreds more to go. What about David? Did God continue the pattern of using time to test David’s endurance as he did Joseph’s and Joshua’s? First Samuel seventeen, and verse four. “And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines named Goliath of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span.” That’s tall. That’s an understatement coming from me.

I see my wife laughing in the back, a little harder than I would like her to, but that’s okay. And where was the anointed king when this giant was, for forty days, challenging the entire Israelite army? Verse fourteen and fifteen tell us that he returned to Bethlehem to feed his father’s sheep. Anointed king, tending sheep, messenger boy, minister-servant of Moses for forty years. The first thing David did as the newly anointed king of Israel was return to tending sheep. Why? God didn’t need to test his strength. He possessed that already. We know that. He could take on wild animals. It wasn’t a question of testing his bravery. It wasn’t going to test his drive. He was highly motivated, David.

David displayed resourcefulness, too. David was going to learn, and you think about the Psalms and all that he wrote, he learned that without God he could never persevere, without that dream, without time. So one would think that after defeating arguably Israel’s single greatest enemy, Goliath, David, being the ripe old age of eighteen or nineteen, or about twenty, God would deem him ready and orchestrate things in a way that he could take the throne, right? From evil Saul, wrong. What did God give David? Time. First, he had to learn to persevere through King Saul’s hatred while serving him. He had to play the harp for the man who wanted to kill him to keep the demon away, the evil spirit.

We complain, brethren, when we have to serve family, or friends, or bosses, or work colleagues, and teachers who hate our way of life. Compared to David, this is nothing, brethren. If you put it all in perspective, we heard earlier, in the earlier message, just put on an attitude of gratitude. Despite serving faithfully, Saul tried to repeatedly kill David. Did David quit, give up, or give in? No. David through his twenties until about thirty. About a decade or so, he spent fleeing. Young David could have taken matters into his own hand on two occasions to end this unjust suffering in an instant.

I want to quit, my boss is being unfair to me. Of course, God’s going to open doors. He knows that. But think of your situation in the perspective of perseverance and developing that ability. And maybe it’s just a little more time that you need to learn the lesson of perseverance before God opens up another door and another job presents itself. Or if you’re young in the church and you’re dating, and things aren’t going as you want because you want to move into a relationship, maybe even court, and become married. Maybe it’s time that God wants you to have. Not a fiancé yet, so that you can learn to persevere.

Example after example, think of the situation that you’re going through right now. The challenge, is it as bad as being pursued by a king or a president to be killed? No. Is it bad? Yes, I’m certain that it is. But we must not quit. We must not look for ways to escape it. We must look for ways to go through it. David decided not to end his trial by killing Saul. He chose to endure. Second Samuel two and verse four. And because he used that time wisely, it says here, “And the men of Judah came, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah.” That’s about thirteen years, about the same time as Joseph, from about seventeen, eighteen, nineteen to thirty years of age, maybe a little less.

He finally took the throne and became king. Oh, nope, not yet. God’s dream wasn’t realized. That was only Judah. God anointed him king of Israel. Second Samuel five, verse three. “So all the elders of Israel came to king, that’s David, to Hebron, and king David made a league or an alliance with them in Hebron before the Lord, and they anointed David king over Israel.” David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years. In Hebron, he reigned over Judah seven years. Interesting.

He was king of Judah seven years. I just find some of these numbers fascinating in the Bible. Joseph was ruler over Egypt seven years before God realized his dream of his brothers coming and honoring him the way they did. And in Jerusalem, he reigned thirty-three years over all Israel and Judah. Finally, the dream was realized. At the age of thirty, David finally became king. The end, the goal, nope. Remember, over a decade ago, at this moment in time, is when God anointed David. So number two, God uses time to develop our ability to persevere. Why would God warn about those who say my Lord delays his coming? Why does God make that warning, brother? Let shift.

We know time tests our endurance. We know Israel complained, gave in, gave up, and succumbed in the wilderness. Here’s the question for us. Will we? Will time defeat us, or will we go through time? And everything that God has waiting for us to reach the goal. Here’s a third lesson about perseverance, and this is the greatest, I think, the most important one. Genesis thirty-nine. Genesis thirty-nine, as we keep moving along here. Verse one. “And Joseph was brought down to Egypt, and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and captain of the guard,” we know these verses. “...and the account brought him from the Ishmaelites.” Verse two. “And the Lord was with Joseph.”

Verse nineteen. “And it came to pass when his master heard the words of his wife, falsely accusing Joseph of sexually assaulting her, saying, ‘After this manner did your servant do to me.’” Potiphar was angry. His wrath was kindled, it says. Verse twenty. “And he took Joseph and put him in the prison.” It doesn’t say that Joseph argued with Potiphar. Could have argued his case, but that would have been, maybe I don’t see Joseph kicking and screaming all the way to the prison. They probably would have slapped him and hit him if he opened up his mouth against Potiphar. So he couldn’t even get his case out. Here’s what it says in verse twenty-one. Same as in two, almost. “But the Lord was with Joseph.”

Verse twenty-three. “The keeper of the prison looked not to anything that was under his hand, because the Lord was with him.” Was with Joseph. These are phrases that you might want to underline in your Bible when it comes to perseverance. The Lord was with Joseph, verse two. “But the Lord was with Joseph,” verse twenty-one. “Because the Lord was with Joseph,” verse twenty-three. God ensured this phrase was repeated. Not only was God intentional about this, but he used him in two distinct situations. And God made sure we knew he was with Joseph in good times and bad.

Number three, we may have God’s goal and time to work toward it, but lesson three, we need God to persevere through good times and bad. We don’t just need his dream. We don’t just need time. We need him. And I like the ratio here. I always look for maybe subtle ratios. In the good times, God said, and the Lord was with Joseph. In the bad times, he said it twice. Sometimes we need to know that we know in bad times more than in good times. We do need to know that God is with us in good times, but sometimes it’s almost we need two doses or a double dose of knowing that God is with us in difficult times.

Joseph had to face years of tough times unjustly, but God was with him. Notice it’s subtle. Joseph did well and was able to endure. It says, because, brethren, the reason that we can persevere is because, that last phrase, the Lord is with us. Joshua. Let’s go over and look at Joshua’s. Joshua, again, we’re staying in close proximity. Joshua One. “Now after Moses’ death,” we read this earlier. Verse one, It came to pass and God said everything that He needed to say in terms of his mission, his job, his commission. And here it is in verse five. A little different than in Genesis, but not too much. “There shall not any man be able to stand before you all the days of your life.” We read that. “As I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not fail you,” He adds, “nor will I forsake you.”

Not only do we need God with us, the reason that we need God with us is because He will not fail. But if we do, He won’t forsake us. God wanted Joshua to realize that about his own life. Not about what God was doing or did with Moses, but God needed to tell Joshua, man to man, if I could put it that way, “I’m not going to fail you. I will not forsake you.” “You will be up against it,” it says. “There shall not any man be able to stand before you all the days of your life.”

Now, brethren, take note of this. If God says that we’re called to persevere every single day, through thick and thin, you can be sure that God has a commitment. He’s committed Himself to be with us every step of the way, every day. If the challenges He asks us to face are every day, then God must be with us, not fail us or forsake us any of those days. Joseph and Joshua both learned and realized that they needed God to persevere through personal prosperity and suffering.

Here’s what Christ said three times as we think about the Days of Unleavened Bread and what transpired. Christ said, “The Son can do nothing of Himself.” He said, “I can of my own self do nothing, and I do nothing of Myself.” I’m building to something, brethren. Nothing would include enduring unto the end. Christ said, “The son cannot endure of Himself. I can of my own self not endure. I can of my own self not endure, and I cannot endure Myself.” His complete dependence on the Father was in all things, but we’re building to something. It’s instructive to us.

What about David? Psalm thirty-seven Let’s go there quickly. Psalm thirty-seven verse one, we know it’s a psalm of David. Verse twenty-three, “The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and He delights in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down, for the Lord upholds him with His hand. I have been young,” that’s what David says, “now I’m old.” The hoary heads among us, you were once young, now you’re old. You can relate to this. Very much so. “Yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken.”

You want to talk about how to learn to persevere, young people, middle-aged people? Talk to the hoary heads. They know a little bit about perseverance. They could teach us a thing or ten about how to persevere in life. Let them give you examples of challenges that they overcame on their journey to that very moment that they’re sitting in front of you doing all the talking, and you’re doing all the listening. They’d have a lot to teach us. My mother-in-law, my father-in-law, my dad, my mom, even they can teach us, even though some may not be in the church. The older people can tell us a little bit about perseverance. A different generation, my parents.

“I have been young and now I’m old, yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. For the Lord,” verse twenty-eight, “loves judgment and forsakes not His saints. They are preserved…” All you’ve got to do is switch some words, letters around and you’ve got persevere. “Those who persevere are preserved forever, but the seed of the wicked, the seed of those or those who do not persevere, shall be cut off.”

Christ made it clear, “Those who endure.” Now that has a prophetic element, obviously, in the context, but it should be screaming loud to us, brethren, personally. David’s extraordinary life required endurance from a very young age, and this psalm reflects his life. Like I said, three down, hundreds to go, and we’re running out of time. So do I call an audible or I keep pushing forward and get those hundreds? Let’s push forward. I’m going to persevere. I’m going to get through this.

Hebrews chapter eleven I’ve got the cliff notes, not to the “Hall of Faith,” but the “Hall of Perseverance.” If you ever have any doubts or concerns, or want to reflect, or meditate on perseverance, go to Hebrews chapter eleven verse one. We see here, “Now, faith is a substance of things hoped for,” not obtained, “the evidence of things not seen.” Think about that. Faith, inherently, goes hand in hand is connected to perseverance. Because there’s no need to persevere once the goal is obtained. No more persevering. But as long as you don’t have that promise, you must have faith, and that faith must persevere, and you must persevere with faith.

There is an area of our Christian walk, our lives, that does not require perseverance, and this chapter proves it. Abel presented a more excellent offering than Cain. But how many excellent offerings do you think he gave before dying? We can’t say for certain. Did he give just one, or did he persevere as an individual that gave God always, every time, excellent offerings? More excellent offerings.

Enoch walked with God. One day? Was it just one day, or was it until he was translated, then ultimately died himself? I would venture to guess that he persevered to the end because he’s in this book. The book, I think, the chapter of perseverance. He walked with God. He persevered walking with God. Abel persevered giving an offering, excellent offerings, to God. Noah spent a century about building an ark for something he didn’t understand. Imagine if he got tired of building it and quit. Don’t, because he didn’t.

Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, verses eight through twenty-one, “All died in faith, never receiving the promise of a city,” of a city, “built by God.” Brethren, what are we waiting for? They persevered intense because God would not have them stay in anything else because He was building a city for them. And how we complain? How we can murmur, if you will? Moses, Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, Sarah, Rahab, and women, yes, ladies, women, who reflect perseverance in the most outstanding way. Women whose children were raised to life again all persevered until what point? Until the end.

These men and women achieved successes of the highest levels with faith. It adds countless more who were tortured, mocked, scourged, stoned, sawn in two, tempted, killed by sword, wandered, destitute, were afflicted, and tormented. Hundreds of men and women I said I would cover in this message, I hope, have delivered. All of them are profoundly powerful examples of perseverance.

God says, not just the Apostle Paul, “That the world is not worthy of them.” What distinguished them ultimately? These were more than men and women of faith. Wow. They were men and women of faith, but they were men and women of perseverance. Here’s a study for you. “Study their lives through the lens of perseverance and let what you learn inspire you.”

Did you ever notice what comes next in chapter twelve? Just turn the page. “God gave them all a dream. God used time to train and test them in their endurance. And God was with them every step of the way.” Hebrews twelve one, that’s why we can read, “Wherefore, seeing we also are encompassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses.” You would venture to guess that these men and women that were just listed in chapter eleven “Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which do so easily beset us, and let us run with patience.”

You know what that word is? Hupomone. That’s the verb, “That is set before us. Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured,” hupomeno, the cross. The word that we’ve been looking at, “Despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” These, brethren, are the hundreds of examples of true Christian endurance. There are two reasons as we begin to close that all of this happened and can happen. Now in the very midst of the Days of Unleavened Bread, consider the most extreme type of endurance ever displayed. I said I was building something.

Matthew twenty-seven Let’s go there quickly. Matthew twenty-seven. Remember what I said. God must give us the dream, the goal, the mission, the reward. God gives us time to develop our ability to learn perseverance. And we need God to persevere. Matthew twenty-seven thirty-three, “And when they arrived at the place called Golgotha, that is a place of a skull,” verse thirty-five, “and they crucified Him.” Verse forty-six. “In about the ninth hour,” I believe that would be around three o’clock, “Jesus cried with a loud voice saying, ‘Eli, Eli lama sabachthani?’ which is to say, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’”

For just a few moments of Christ’s human existence, He persevered through the greatest difficulty and hardship any one of us in this great calling that we have could, and it wasn’t the crucifixion in and of itself. It was enduring, persevering through this unjust crucifixion without God. Unimaginable. And we know, by the Passover that we keep, that we were the cause of that.

We all have likely thought or questioned whether God is with us. Brethren, fellow ministers, wives of the ministers, remember this, Christ pronounced those four words so we never have to even think that those nine words in English apply to us. Or that the nine words in Spanish apply to you, or nine Dutch words, or nine words in Afrikaans apply to you. Or the seven words in French ever apply to you.

Satan wants us to quit, give in, and give up by tricking us into believing the opposite of what Christ ensured for us. God forsook His Son so we would never be forsaken. Christ confirmed it with His body. For His body. God’s church. And the second reason the law of perseverance is so essential to our Christian walk, and this really blew my mind, brethren. I was talking to a minister in preparation for this message. And I said something, and we were wondering if that’s anywhere in the Bible.

Romans chapter fifteen, our last verse. Our last verse. Romans fifteen. Verse four, “For whatsoever things were written aforetime,” we just covered a lot, brethren, “were written for our learning.” Oh, and I hope we’ve learned much about perseverance today, that we through patience… What? That’s hupomeno, the action verb. That, we, through endurance and comfort of the scriptures, might have hope.

Verse five. “Now the God of patience.” Please stop there, brethren. The God of patience. That is a noun form of the word in Matthew twenty-four. Brethren, we know God is love. This means that God is endurance. He’s perseverance. The God of perseverance. The God of love. Hupomeno is the action. Hupomone is the character that is produced. We become cheerful endures, just like God. The more we persevere, the more we take on God’s character.

So you young people who feel pressure at school or trying to find your own identity, make your own choices. When you’re the only one at school who won’t cheat, copy, or go along with what everyone else is doing, stay strong. Like young David who stood up to Goliath when no one else would. You are not standing alone. God is with you. When friends start changing, drifting, or leaving you out because you don’t fit anymore, because you’re following your own God, the God that happens to be of your parents, hang in there and don’t compromise.

Like Joseph who was betrayed by his own brothers and forgotten by those he helped in prison, God was with him and He is with you. When everyone else is posting, watching, or listening to things you know you shouldn’t, choose differently. Like Joseph who refused to sin with a woman when no one was watching and likely no one would have known, God does because He’s with you. Those of us seeking direction in life and taking our first steps towards independence, you’re growing up, you’re getting older, you’re learning to be on your own. When choosing a college, a trade, or a job that might limit income or opportunities because of God’s way, stick with that decision.

Like Joshua who followed God’s command without turning aside, when co-workers or classmates pressure you to relax your standards, you have to hold your ground, like Caleb and Joshua did for forty years when no one else would. When we’re trying to build habits like Bible study and prayer, but our phones, games, and constant noise are pulling at us, we must push through like David who remained faithful everywhere and in every situation, including caves.

When your career starts taking off but begins to compete with God’s time, you have to choose what comes first. Remember God’s dream for your life like Joseph, like David, like Joshua, like all those greats. When you’re overlooked, underpaid, or treated unfairly at work, endure without becoming bitter, like Joseph in the pit in prison. When others are moving ahead in life with marriage, success, stability, and your situation hasn’t yet changed, don’t lose focus. They might, they might not, but don’t lose focus like David waited years for what God promised.

Brethren, salvation is the ultimate prize. Eternal life requires endurance in all of these areas and more unto the end. In the Days of Unleavened Bread, we must remember the words of the Apostle James. You can write this down. James one-twelve. “Blessed is the man that endures, not just temptation, but blessed is the man and woman who preserves through good and bad with God to the end. For when he is tried in perseverance in every area of our Christian walk, when he is proven in all these areas regarding his perseverance or her perseverance, he and she shall receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised.”