Constant Contact

""You will be hated by all because of My name, but the one who endures to the end, he will be saved." (Mark 13:13 NAS95)

Yesterday I was on the phone with my friend Steve and he shared this incredible quote from Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing with me:

Live in contact with the living Christ, and He will hold you firmly by a hand that will never let go. Know and believe the love that God has to us, and you are secure; that love is a fortress impregnable to all the delusions and assaults of Satan. "The name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe." Proverbs 18:10. (Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing, p. 119). 

A similar quote is found in the book Ministry of Healing:  

Nothing is apparently more helpless, yet really more invincible, than the soul that feels its nothingness and relies wholly on the merits of the Saviour. By prayer, by the study of His word, by faith in His abiding presence, the weakest of human beings may live in contact with the living Christ, and He will hold them by a hand that will never let go. (Ministry of Healing, p. 182).

My wife is currently going through the Beth Moore study When Godly People Do Ungodly Things, and one of the points Ingrid has wrestled with is the idea of being sealed by the Holy Spirit.  Beth concludes that Satan may harass those who are sealed but that ultimately they belong to God and there is nothing the Devil can do to take them from the Lord's hand.  

However, today's text says that it is the one who endures to the end who will be saved.  In other words, those who do not endure will be lost.   It's not that the devil takes them from God's hand, but that they choose to walk away from the hand of God.  Yes, when we receive Christ we find shelter from Satan, but temptation is about the devil seeking to lead us step by step outside that shelter.  Thus, those who do not abide in Christ will be cut off and thrown into the fire as John 15 tells us.  

Yes, when we confess Christ with our mouths and believe with our hearts the promise says: "we will be saved" (Romans 10:9).   But "will" is the critical word.  As long as we continue to confess, as long as we continue to trust "we will be saved."

To be sealed by the Spirit of God means that we have been set apart.  We are now a part of those destined to be saved.  But that doesn't take away the fact that we must endure until the end.  King Saul received the Spirit of God, but because He didn't endure, eventually the Spirit of God left him:

""Then the Spirit of the LORD will come upon you mightily, and you shall prophesy with them and be changed into another man. "It shall be when these signs come to you, do for yourself what the occasion requires, for God is with you. "And you shall go down before me to Gilgal; and behold, I will come down to you to offer burnt offerings and sacrifice peace offerings. You shall wait seven days until I come to you and show you what you should do." 

Then it happened when he turned his back to leave Samuel, God changed his heart; and all those signs came about on that day. When they came to the hill there, behold, a group of prophets met him; and the Spirit of God came upon him mightily, so that he prophesied among them... 

Now the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD terrorized him." (1 Samuel 10:6–10; 16:14 NAS95)

O friend, the key to security in Christ, the key to assurance of salvation is this... Confession and Connection.  True assurance, an assurance without presumption, is choosing to live in contact with the living Christ.  As long as we are connected we may be confident.  Our confidence and assurance isn't from our confession alone, but from our confession combined with our connection to Christ.  If we abide in Him we will bear much fruit.  And one of the fruits we bear is assurance of salvation.  

Prayer:  Lord Jesus, I choose you again.  Today Lord, let me live in connection to You.  Be my vine, that I might bear Your fruit.  Let Your strong hand hold me close and never let go!  Amen!