We do not live in a generation that puts a high premium on endurance in relationships or jobs or in ministry. And we are very much children of our age. If we follow Scripture here we will be swimming against the tide. You must endure to the end in order to be saved. And you shall endure precisely because you are saved.
Salvation is both the reward of endurance, and the free gift of grace.
We endure in order to inherit the blessings of heaven and because we are sure that the blessings of heaven are certainly ours. And I don't want you to mangle the Scriptures, or miss the precious encouragement of God in both kinds of texts. Let me illustrate these two kinds of Scripture and try to show how both are really intended to strengthen and sustain your hope and empower your endurance. You recall from last week how the new covenant promises were better than the old covenant because they are accompanied with the assurance of spiritual power to fulfill the covenant conditions. I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to observe my commandments.