The object of Jesus' mission to the earth was to rescue man from enslavement to sin. He once said of Himself, "For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost," (Luk. 19:10). This goal was not restricted to any one part of mankind, but was freely extended to the whole human race. It is said of "God our Savior" that He "desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth," (I Tim. 2:4). God went to awful length and paid a terrible price to offer man freedom and salvation from sin. The apostle Paul states that "while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. ... God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us," (Rom. 5:6,8). Man's greatest discovery is that God acted to save him, and man's wisest decision is to take advantage of God's gift through faith and obedience.
What God has done to save us is great and wonderful, for had He not taken this initiative we would have no way to escape the consequences of our sin. This fact is emphasized in the declaration: "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast," (Eph. 2:8-9). Grace is unmerited favor. God's grace in saving us is a gift which He, out of His love, bestowed upon us when we were His enemies, living in sin and rebellion, and totally undeserving.
This does not mean, however, that man is a passive recipient of God's goodness. Far from it! The New Testament is very clear and emphatic that man must respond to divine grace with faith and obedience. Jesus stated definitely that "not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who DOES the will of My Father who is in heaven," (Mat. 7:21). He was equally definite when He proclaimed, "Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned," (Mrk. 16:16). Paul extended the requirement of man's active response to God's grace when He counseled us to "work out your own salvation with fear and trembling," (Php. 2:12). Indeed, we must respond to God's grace with faith and obedience to His requirements in the gospel.
There seems to be a commonly held view among Christians that once you have put your faith in Jesus, repented of sin, publicly confessed Jesus as the Son of God, and submitted to baptism for the remission of sin, you are assured of salvation from then till death. At baptism it is true that that all your sins to that point are "washed away," (Acts 22:16). But that is not the end of the conflict with sin. During the remainder of the Christian's life he must resist temptation, pray for the forgiveness of new sins (I Jno. 1:8,10), and struggle for the sake of righteousness as a soldier of Christ. The New Testament constantly urges Christians to remain active in their service to the Lord as members of His church in order for their salvation to remain valid to the end. Initial obedience to the gospel is not an unqualified guarantee of salvation to the grave. It certainly redeems the lost soul, qualifies him to be added to God's family, and starts him on the road of righteousness toward heaven. But it alone does not keep him there! That is the work of a Christian at which he must toil every day of his life.
Jesus' statement in the featured text above calls our attention to this fact. He offers salvation in the judgment only to those who "endure to the end." A person who has obeyed the gospel in baptism to become a Christian, but who will not attend church regularly to worship, who will not participate in any of the works of the church, who will not regulate his speech and behavior by the moral standard of the gospel, and who will not stand up for Christ in his daily walk of life, is not concerned about enduring to the end. It is urgent that he wake up (Eph. 4:14), renew his commitment to Jesus, return to his first love, and begin his journey in the way of life again. Salvation is only for those who "endure to the end."
