Mark 13:13 And you shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that shall endure to the end, the same shall be saved. I. IT IS A FAIR SUBJECT OF INQUIRY: WHERE AND FROM WHENCE DO WE EXPECT THESE TRIALS? 1. From our own heart. 2. The wiles and the machinations of Satan. 3. The world will assault you. 4. Sin in all its phases, its fascinating aspects, will seek to seduce you. 5. Error will assail you. II. THOSE FORMS OF RELIGION, THOSE SHADES AND SYSTEMS OF BELIEF, WHICH WILL NOT ENDURE, BUT MUST COLLAPSE IN THE ORDEALS TO WHICH THEY WILL BE SUBJECTED IN A WORLD WHICH TESTS THE REAL EVERY DAY AND REJECTS ALL THAT IS PRETENTIOUS. Nothing will endure but vital, scriptural Christianity. 1. The religion of mere impulse. Excitement is not conviction. 2. The religion of sentiment, not the religion of conviction nor of the adoption of the heart, but purely of the imagination. 3. The religion of intellect. A very striking and, so far, commendable form. The understanding is convinced that Christianity is true. It is orthodoxy, not regeneration; it is light in the head without love in the heart. 4. The religion of the conscience. 5. The religion of the natural affections, than which nothing is more amiable, beautiful, or lovely; and yet it is a religion that will not endure. 6. The religion of tradition. 7. The religion of form. There is no endurance in it; it collapses the moment it is exposed to trouble. (J. Cumming, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. |
    |