The present and future aspects of salvation are neglected. Who today is preaching we will share in Christ only if we stand firm to the end; if we hold firmly to the end the confidence we had at first?

There is way too much emphasis today on grace as an unconditional amnesty. The idea seems to be that once we have our ticket we are on the train and nothing can affect our journey to Heaven.

This simply is not scriptural. The moment we place our faith in Christ we are tested as to our determination to leave the world and follow Jesus. We continually are having to choose between our own pleasure and desires and the will of God.

Many things and events conspire to take away our crown of life, to discourage us, to tempt us away from the Lord. To say this is not so is to deny reality.

Doesn't the Bible teach us clearly that if at any point we take the wrong fork in the road, choosing to obey the lusts of our flesh rather than the Spirit of God, we place our reward in jeopardy?

Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the Lord delivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe. (Jude 1:5—NIV)

One of the major keys to success in the Christian life is that of patient endurance. Each healthy human being has many desires, some of them fierce and burning because of the idols and demons in our personality. The Lord Jesus wants every one of the idols put under our feet and every demon driven from us until Satan has no place in us.

There is nothing like a burning desire or ambition to cause a man or woman to lose his or her integrity.

If we are to obtain complete release from that which is harmful and unclean, that which keeps us in the chains of lust and self-will, we must exercise very great patience, the continual denial of our deepest desires. The individual who will not permit the deferral of his fervent desires cannot possibly make a success of entering the Kingdom of God. It is at this very point of self-denial that numerous American Christians, clergy and laity both, fail to press forward to the riches of God.

One of the chief characteristics of Satan is an insistence on getting what he wants now, an unwillingness to wait patiently for the Lord. The wicked stridently demand that their needs be met instantly. Spoiled children are like this.

The Lord Jesus Christ is our primary example of patience as He sits at the right hand of the Father, waiting until the Father puts every enemy under His feet.

The Apostles of the Lamb also are examples of the patient suffering of affliction and finally martyrdom as they bore witness of the atoning death and triumphant resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Disciples experience a multitude of frustrations of their efforts to reach their goals, numerous perplexities and quandaries, sometimes torture and death.

To be continued.