Being Faithful to the End!

Being faithful is so important!

A race is won by the end, not the beginning.

Our Christian life must end successfully.

It is not good enough to start being a Christian---you must end your life being a Christian.

We have some examples in the Bible.

Saul started out in a wonderful way. He was humble--not proud.

He did not push himself out to be seen and noticed.

God’s spirit came upon him. He was God’s choice to be king.

As time went on he became comfortable being king. He began to think he was strong and powerful in his own strength and being smart.

He began to think he did not have to obey God’s rules like other men---he was the king. He decided to ignore God’s laws about several different things.

He was wrong. He was still a man. God was the real king. It was because of God’s power that Saul was king. When he disobeyed God---God took the kingdom away from him and his sons.

You can read about how became king in I Samuel Chp. 9, 10. The story of his life is in the books of I and II Samuel, I and II Kings, and I Chronicles.

In I Chronicles 10: 13,14 we read, "Saul died because he was not faithful to the Lord. He did not obey the Lord’s commands…….so the Lord killed him (let him be killed in battle), and gave his kingdom to David."

Saul started out so good. But he began to think he could do it by himself. He thought he did not have to follow God’s rules. He was wrong.

He lost the right to be king and so did his sons.

David showed faith in the Lord even when he was a young man.

He killed a lion and a bear with his hands or perhaps with a sling and rod.

He had no sword or other weapon. God gave him the power.

David killed a giant, when other older, experienced soldiers were afraid and would not fight. David used a sling and a stone, and the power that God put behind that sling. The stone went in the giant’s forehead and knocked him out. David used the giant’s sword to cut off his head.

David had his times of trouble and testing. Saul hunted him to kill him. David hid in caves and kept moving trying to stay away from Saul.

Finally, in God’s time, Saul died, and David became king.

David had his times of sin. He did several things that were wrong.

One really bad sin was when he took another man’s wife and then had her husband killed. God punished David. The baby son that woman had died. God told David that because of his sin----the sword would never leave his family. David had grown children. They knew what David did. They began to have ideas of doing what they wanted. They made a lot of trouble.

One son tried to take the kingdom away from David. There was fighting. People were killed.

God protected David, but it was like God said it would be----"a sword" ---fighting and trouble in his family.

The difference between David and Saul was that David was truly sorry for his sin and he repented. When God showed him his sin,  he stopped it.  He bowed before God and asked for forgiveness. He accepted the punishment for his sin. He stayed close to God.

He was not perfect. He sinned. But he repented and he stayed with God. He kept trying to obey and be faithful.  He did not have a stubborn heart that made him go his own way.  He wanted God and he wanted to do right. It was in his heart to do right. 

David lived to be an old man. God said of David, "He is a man after my own heart." Acts 13: 22 1 Samuel 13: 14

Solomon was David’s son. He started out good. God came to him when he was first king. God said for Solomon to ask for anything he wanted. Wow! What would you ask for?　

Solomon was humble and understood he needed God’s help.

He said that he wanted God to give make him wise so he could be a good king.

That was a wise thing to ask for! God was so pleased with what he asked for that he told Solomon that he would make him the wisest man that ever was, and that he would give him great riches---something he did not ask for. I Kings 3:5 - 15

God said, "If you will walk before me, as David your father walked, in honesty of heart, and in rightness to do all I have commanded, and you will keep my laws and my teachings. Then I will make you successful in your kingdom…..but if you turn from following me, or your children do not follow me…..I will cut Israel out of the land." I Kings 9:4-7

Solomon was known for his wisdom in all the world around Israel. One queen came to visit and stay awhile to learn from Solomon.

Solomon studied about plants, animals, and the science of many things. He had great understanding of so much.

He made wise decisions.

He built the richest, most beautiful temple that ever was!

As time when on, Solomon began to disobey God’s rules.

Long before Solomon lived, Moses was talking to the people just before he died. He told them: If and when you decide to have a king over you, choose a man of your own people. He is not to get many, many horses. He is not to return to Egypt to get horses. He is not to return to Egypt at all.

He is not to marry many wives, so that his heart is not turned away from the Lord. He is not to get much silver and gold to himself.

He is to read the book of the laws of God so he does not forget them, so that he will follow the Lord and keep his words. His heart is not to get lifted up and proud to think that he is better and above his brothers. Deuteronomy 17: 15-20

Solomon had many horses and 1,400 chariots, and 12,000 horsemen. This shows that he had great military power to win wars. God did not want the kings to have large armies so that they would begin to trust in their own power. He wanted them to have few horses so that they would have to trust in God to win.

(Gideon’s story in Judges Chp. 6 -8 shows what God can do when man has nothing to fight with.)

Solomon had riches---gold and silver. There was so much silver that is was like stones. I Kings 10:27

Solomon married 700 women, many of them were from the nations around him that worshipped idols. He also had 300 extra women who were not his wives.

One of his wives was the daughter of Pharaoh of Egypt. This shows that he went to Egypt to make an agreement with Pharaoh. He was not to do this.

He built temples for his wives’ idols so they could worship their idols.

So Solomon brings idol worship into Israel.

I Kings 11:5 "For Solomon went after Ashtoreth,….and Milcom…"

These were idols. Some of these idol worship services required that parents give their babies to be burned alive in sacrifice.

I Kings 11:4 says: "It came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father."

I Kings 11:9 "And the Lord was angry with Solomon because his heart was turned away from the Lord God of Israel, (the Lord) which had appeared unto Solomon two times." He warned him that he should not go after other gods.

In the next several verses in Chp 11, God tells Solomon that he will take away the kingdom out of his family. He will not do it while Solomon is still alive, but when he has died, God will give the kingdom to another family. God will let one tribe (Judah) to stay in Solomon’s family----not because of Solomon, but because God promised David, Solomon’s father---that David’s family would always have the kingdom.

After Solomon died, 11 of the tribes went to another family to be ruled by them. Judah was the only tribe under David’s family. Israel became a nation divided into two parts. They often had wars with each other.

Solomon started out so good-----but he ended so sad.

There was another king, Uzziah. He was 16 when he became king. He did what was right in the sight of God. He sought (looked for) the Lord. He wanted to please the Lord. He wanted to do what God wanted.

II Chronicles 26: 5 "As long as he sought the Lord, God made him to prosper (be successful)."

Uzziah did some wonderful things.

God helped him win many wars over his enemies. He broke down the city walls of 3 cities. He built watchout towers and forts. He had the enemies that he won wars over pay him tax money….so he got rich.

He built war machines that could throw large stones at the enemy.

His soldiers had helmets, shields, coats of armor.

He built cisterns and wells in many fields to water his many large herds of animals. He had many grape vineyards and fields.

He became famous--all the nations around knew of his greatness.

He was very powerful. II Chronicles 26: 15

II Chronicles 26:16 "But when he had become powerful, he became proud-----then he sinned against God. He disobeyed God’s law----He went into the temple and burned incense that only the priests were to do. The priests told him to stop. But he would not stop. God gave him leprosy (a skin disease that brings death).

Uzziah had to live in a house alone----because leprosy can spread to other people----until he died.

What a sad end!

It does not pay to ignore God. It does not pay to think you are strong enough in your own power.

Uzziah quickly learned how weak he was. All of his power, fame, riches was because God give it to him. And God gave it to him because Uzziah wanted God and wanted to please him.

When Uzziah stopped wanting God-----he cut off his source of power.

Paul tells us in I Corinthians 4:2 "…it is required in stewards (servants) that a man be found faithful."

In Revelation 2:10 the Spirit of God is talking: "….be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life."

Hebrews 10:26-27 says:  "....If we knowingly continue to sin after we have received a full knowledge of the truth,  there is no other sacrifice that will cover these sins.  There will be nothing to look forward to but the terrible expectation of God's judgment and raging fire that will consume (burn up) his enemies."

In other words,  sin is an enemy of God.  When we live in sin, we make ourselves an enemy of God.  If we know the truth of salvation,  but choose to live in sin----what more can God do for us?  God has done for us all He can do.  We must choose to give up sin and live in a way that pleases God. 

To confess our sin is not enough.  You can admit that you sin over and over.  That does not save you.  You must trust Jesus to forgive you.  He is the One who died for you and He is the One who must forgive you.  But if you ask for forgiveness, and then keep choosing to sin---you do not mean it when you ask for forgiveness.  You are not really sorry for your sin.  The Bible says you must "repent" of your sin. That means you must turn away from your sin. 

We are all weak and we give in to temptation sometimes.  But if we know the way of salvation and we know what we should be doing-----yet we choose to sin, we plan to sin, we want to sin---then we are not sorry for our sin----we have not repented of our sin.

All these men that we read about knew what they should be doing,  but they chose to do wrong. God sent judgment on them.  That is what the verse in Hebrews is saying.  If we know what is right, but we choose to keep on sinning----then we can only look for judgment.

In Titus 1:16 "They profess (say) they know God, but in works (the way they live) they deny him." The way they live shows that they do not know God.

What we do and how we live shows if we are obeying God or not.

We may say we are Christians, but do we live in a way that obeys God’s rules and teachings?

We must obey God and follow Him to the end of our life if we want the crown of life. Out beginning can be good----but it is the end that is important.

Be faithful to the end. Do not let any temptation to do wrong turn your head away from following God.

Revelation 3:21 "To him the overcomes (wins over) will I give to sit with me in my throne."

Hebrews 11:40 "....for they can not receive the prize at the end of the race until we finish the race."

It is not the start (beginning)----it is the end that is important.