Hi, Mike

I hope I’m not bothering you with too many questions, but this one I’m about to ask you may be the one I’m having most difficulty with. I recently read your letter to a reader regarding what it means to have your name blotted out of the book of the life of the Lamb. You made this particular comment in the letter:

Constant vigilance and living righteously, in no way conflicts with the sovereignty of God. But then neither does the lack of vigilance and living in sin.

I guess what I’m wondering is what exactly IS “enduring to the end,” then? What are we to endure? I always thought it meant to avoid sin at all costs until the end, or at least make the EFFORT of avoiding sin at all costs, since we all sin at one point or another. 2Pe 1:4-11 talks about what we need to do in order to make our calling and election sure. To me, it seems to be ALL about constant vigilance and living righteously. So, is THAT what enduring to the end? Is it only if we DO all those things that we will have a chance at being amongst the elect? And how does that all jibe with Rom 9 which talks about how it isn’t on us who wills, but God who shows mercy? Can you help? I really would like to at least have an IDEA that I’m on track with being among the elect, even though I know that only God knows who are His.

Thank you and God bless you, Mike,
D____

Hi D____,

No, you are not “bothering me with too many questions.” I thank you for this question.
You quote me from a letter dealing with having your name blotted out of the book of the life of the Lamb:

Constant vigilance and living righteously, in no way conflicts with the sovereignty of God. But then neither does the lack of vigilance and living in sin.

Then you say this:

I guess what I’m wondering is what exactly IS “enduring to the end,” then? What are we to endure? I always thought it meant to avoid sin at all costs until the end, or at least make the EFFORT of avoiding sin at all costs, since we all sin at one point or another. 2Pe 1:4-11 talks about what we need to do in order to make our calling and election sure. To me, it seems to be ALL about constant vigilance and living righteously. So, is THAT what enduring to the end? Is it only if we DO all those things that we will have a chance at being amongst the elect? And how does that all jibe with Rom 9 which talks about how it isn’t on us who wills, but God who shows mercy? Can you help? I really would like to at least have an IDEA that I’m on track with being among the elect, even though I know that only God knows who are His.”

All I was pointing out was that God is the creator of both the good and the evil that we all do. Satan is not the original author of anything. You and I are not the original authors of anything:

Rom 7:17  Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Rom 7:18  For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but [ how] to perform that which is good I find not.
Rom 7:19  For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
Rom 7:20  Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Rom 7:21  I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.

I dare you to point this out in any orthodox church which believes in the false doctrine of free moral agency. They will tell you that Paul is wrong and it is your that do the sins you do.
Now, knowing that “it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwells in me, am I not to try to overcome? Am I now exempt from the need to be vigilant and sober and diligent and “careful to maintain good works?” Is that Paul’s message here in Rom 7? Absolutely NOT!!! When I say, “Constant vigilance and living righteously, in no way conflicts with the sovereignty of God. But then neither does the lack of vigilance and living in sin.” I am simply agreeing with the holy spirit writing through the pen of the apostles and the prophets. These verses are speaking of you and me, as well as all men:

Isa 45:7 I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

Do you think that the evil you and I have committed is somehow exempt from what this verse declares to be true? Of course, it is not. The evil God creates is all evil that exists. It even included the type and the actual body of that type of the worst sin that has ever been committed.
I speak of the sale of Joseph by his ‘seed of Abraham’ brothers for 20 pieces of silver, and the sale of Christ for thirty pieces of silver. Here is what the scriptures teach concerning the sale of Joseph.

Gen 45:4  And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt.
Gen 45:5  Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life.
Gen 45:6  For these two years hath the famine been in the land: and yet there are five years, in the which there shall neither be earing nor harvest.
Gen 45:7  And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance.
Gen 45:8  So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God: and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.

It wasn’t really Joseph’s brothers, even though Joseph twice required his brothers to give an accounting of the fact that “You sold me into Egypt.”
Now here is what the scriptures teach concerning the sale and betrayal of Christ to His death.

Act 4:26  The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ.
Act 4:27  For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together,

Why did all these people do these things “against the Lord, and against His Christ?” Here is the only reason.

Act 4:28  For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.

It was “determined before to be done” by “Thy hand and Thy counsel” as are “all things.

Eph 1:11  In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:

So every day ever ordained for any man who has ever lived was predestinated, and actually written in God’s book before any of those day ever were.

Psa 139:16  Thine eyes did see mine unformed substance; And in thy book they were all written, Even the days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was none of them. (ASV)

That is the simple Truth of God’s Word. God has made us all sinners and wicked men in our own time and to our own predestinated degree.

Pro 16:4  The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.

Our diligence, soberness, vigilance, and our carefulness, are just as much a part of “all things” as is the “day of evil” within us all. It is all the sovereign work of the Lord.
I’m sorry, but I cannot give you the faith to believe that you are God’s elect are those who will endure to the end. Not even the apostle ever dared to take that for granted.

Php 3:13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
Php 3:14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Php 3:15 Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.
Php 3:16 Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing.

This is the mindset for all who are being perfected, as verse 15 out to read in the Greek. Ask God to give you the faith to be able to believe with the apostle.
We still must “endure to the end” in order to be saved, but it is all a work of God and not of ourselves. Why then would we be anxious for anything when it is all His work? After all, we are saved by hope.

Rom 8:24  For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?

But Paul’s faith wasn’t in his own strength. It was all in God’s strength to do finish what He had begun.

Php 1:6  Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:

I hope this exchange will be instrumental in bringing you, in faith in God, to this very same conviction. I myself have no doubt that God can and will finish what He has begun in me, and I have no doubt that He will do the same in you.
Your brother in Christ,

Mike