Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship's Bible study in the Book of Revelation.  Tonight is study #30 of Revelation, chapter 14, and we are continuing to look at our verse in Revelation14:12:

Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

Again, the big point is, why is this verse located here in the midst of a discussion of Judgment Day and why is God emphasizing the “the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus”?  Of course, the answer is because God’s people will be on the earth in the Day of Judgment and this applies to the present time because now is Judgment Day and during this time period the people of God are exercising “patience.” 

We have to be careful when we read a word like “patience” that we do not automatically define it with our common, earthly understanding of this word.  For instance, if you are talking to someone that does not know anything about the Bible and you mention that we have to have “patience,” they will have an idea of what that word means, just as we do.  It means we have to “wait” until we get what we want or we have to be patient with someone because of their attitude, and so on.  There are a lot of different understandings of the word “patience” and people have their own idea of the word.  But that is not how we understand any word in the Bible.  We have to let the Bible define it.  Often God’s definition is not the same definition as the world would define a word.  This is the case with the word “patience.” 

The Greek word translated as “patience” is Strong’s #5281.  It is “hupomone.”  It is a compound word that is made up of two different Greek words: 1) “hupo,” which is Strong’s #5259; and 2) “mone,” which is Strong’s #3306.  I think “hupo” can be best understood as being “under” and “mone” is a word that is translated as “abide” or “endure” or “continue.” 

I want to look at a few places where “mone” is used and then we will come back to our word and I think we will have a better understanding of what God means.  It says in John 8:31:

Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;

The Greek word translated as “continue” is “mone.”  If you “continue” in Christ’s word, then you are His disciples.  Is it not interesting and significant that Jesus would make this kind of statement?  Why would He say that?  Well, it is because the “seed” is sown on many hearts and sometimes the seed is sown and there is no depth of earth.  Immediately, there is a joyous reaction in some people early on and this is often the case when you hear people say, “Oh, that person is ‘on fire’ for the Lord!”  I have actually met some people that this was said of and they are full of excitement and fervor.  They want to talk about the Bible all day long (and there is nothing wrong with that), but there are instances where this was just an instant reaction, but there has been no change of heart deep down within.  It could be intellectual or it could be a matter of their personality, where they initially go after things with excitement.  But, because there is no “deepness of earth” and the Word of God could not take root (Christ, the root of Jesse. is not in them), there will be a falling away from their initial position or they will never come to a right understanding of the Gospel.  What does it matter if you are excited about erroneous doctrines?  For instance, there are people that are all excited about “speaking in tongues.”  They are excited about “falling over backwards.”  They are excited about physical healings and other aspects of the charismatic gospel.   Or, they are excited about “accepting Christ,” and they are excited about the wrong things.  That does not do anyone any good.  The world gets excited constantly over wrong things.  They are brought to an emotional high point, but feelings and emotions and excitement mean nothing.

There are instances where people get excited when they hear the true Gospel, but, again, there has been no change within, so they will leave that position, so it is very important, as Jesus said: “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed.”  This is especially true when tribulation or persecution arises for the Word’s sake.  Now we are going to find out if you really have a change of heart?  Are you a new creature?  Are you one of God’s elect?  Has God saved you?  This will become known, not in a day, not in a moment, not in a decision or profession of faith, but through continuance and through an ongoing desire to do the will of God and to steadfastly maintain the truths of the Word of God that have been faithfully taught and that is to “continue in the faith.”

It is very sorrowful and very troubling when people have gone along with the Gospel for a time, maybe even for years, but at a time of intense tribulation, like it was during the Great Tribulation, or persecution for the Word’s sake, they fall away.  We would have to say there was some of this happening after May 21, 2011, after the Tribulation; there was falling away as some people left the faithful teachings of the Bible.  They no longer wanted to be identified with the timeline or they thought it was time to go back to the churches and leave all these ideas about the end of the church age behind.   They are not continuing in the faithful doctrine they were taught, as God opened up this information at the time of the end.  But they are turning back and this is basically what God means when He speaks of those that desired in their hearts to go back to Egypt and they wanted to set a captain over them and return to Egypt, as it actually happened historically.  It is what the Bible means when it says that some put their hand to the plow and then look back.  It is what the Bible means when it says, “Remember Lot’s wife.”  And what was Lot’s wife’s transgression?  She fled Sodom, but she looked back behind him.  God warns against that in a major way.  We are not to look back, but we are to press toward the mark of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.  We are to run the race that is set before us and not to turn back.  These ideas are all summarized here, in a sense: “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed.”

Another place we find the word “mone” is 2John, verse 9.  God moved John to write 1John, 2John, 3John and the Book of Revelation.  There is some doubt as to the author of the Gospel of John.  It could have been Lazarus, but we know that God moved John to write 2John, and it says in 2John 1:9:

Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.

The word “abideth” is our word.  Now we do not use the word “abide” too much in our modern English language.  There is that wonderful song, “Abide with Me,” but, for the most part, we do not think about it.  The word “continue” is helpful because it is the same Greek word.  So we could read this verse, “Whosoever transgresseth, and continueth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that continueth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.”  Now what is the doctrine of Christ?  The word translated as “doctrine” is translated differently in one place, in Titus 1:9: “Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught.”  The phrase “hath been taught” is a translation of the word “doctrine.”  Doctrine is that which we are taught from the Bible.  We read the Bible and, of course, that is a very good thing, but God does not expect us to just read the Bible and come away with nothing.  He does not expect us to be ignorant of His Word.  As we read the Bible, we learn things. 

A big mistake that some people have made, especially lately, is they do not trust any teachers and there is nothing wrong with that –neither do I and none of us should.  God tells us to make sure we check things out against the Bible and “try the spirits,” because we are not to trust any man.  So we always want to check out what is being said against the Bible to see if it is true, but these people take things further than that and they go further than what God has gone and in doing so, we would have to say they are trying to be “holier than God,” because God has not commanded this.  They say there are not to be teachers any longer: “There are not to be teachers any more – only the Bible.”  So they post Scriptures on Face Book, for example, and oftentimes they try to teach through their posting of Scripture and sometimes they may even comment on it, which goes contrary to their own doctrine of “no teachers.”  But they just post Scripture and they say, “Let us just let the Bible talk.” 

But why has God given us the Scripture?  According to 2Timothy 3:16, “All scripture is given by inspiration by God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.”  But they deny that and they say, “Here it is and I will post Scripture,” but they do not dare to call it doctrine or say this is what a Scripture means because then you are declaring doctrine.  They are going contrary to the Bible in their denial that God has given us Scripture for the purpose of “doctrine.”  So we can read, for instance, that the Bible says that God is the Father and He is Spirit and He is the Son; we can put it all together and then we can say that the Bible teaches that God is one, but the Bible reveals Him as a triune deity – the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  He is three persons but one God.  And that is doctrine.  That is what God expects from the reader of the Bible because that is one of the purposes for which He gave all Scripture, to be profitable for doctrine.

Then God qualifies individuals in various ways to teach, to proclaim the doctrines that the Bible puts forth and as long as what we are saying is accurate and faithful to the Scripture (like the doctrine of the Trinity, the doctrine of election) on that particular teaching and doctrine.  Then we know that this is what God has decreed and this is the teaching of God.  Another reason is that God says that as we compare Scripture with Scripture, then the Holy Ghost “teaches,” and remember it said, in Titus 1:9, that doctrine is that which hath been taught.  If we are following the methodology of the Bible, the Holy Ghost is the teacher that teaches us the doctrine of Christ.  That is the reason it says in 2John, verse 9: “Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God.”  The doctrine develops, derived from Scripture, by comparing verses with verses throughout the Bible and God takes the responsibility as the Holy Ghost teaches.  There is a necessity to “continue in the doctrine of Christ,” the true and faithful teaching of the Bible. 

As we have seen, the problem is not that the true and faithful teaching of the Bible does not get declared and does not get out there so people can hear it.  Oh, they hear it alright.  The people in the churches heard about the end of the church age.  Those that hold the position of “free will” have heard about election.  Those that say we are to worship on the seventh day Sabbath have heard that God made the change to Sunday Sabbath, and so forth.  They heard and maybe they even believed and continued for a time in holding to true doctrine, but at some point they changed.  At some point something came up and they no longer held to that point of doctrine.  It could be a natural matter and some could even understand that Sunday is the Sabbath and we are not to do any work on the Lord’s Day, but then their job makes a change and their job is not an “emergency type” job like a doctor or nurse, but it is just a regular job.  They are now required to come to work on Sunday and now they begin to look at it in a different light.  Maybe a couple of years ago, if you had talked to them, they were in agreement, but now after taking the step to work on Sunday, they say, “I do not believe that any more.”  You see, they were tested on that point and they failed the test.  They no longer hold to it in order to justify their disobedience. 

Another example is the doctrine of divorce (and this pertains to certain individuals I have known) and this person agreed that there is not to be divorce for any reason: “I agree the Bible teaches this.”  This person was a divorced person and they continued in that doctrine for several years, but then they meet someone.  He really likes this person and they get along so well and, after some time, they turn back to the Bible and start looking again at the Scriptures.  And, of course, there is always a verse or two that can give the appearance that one can go another way.  God has written the Bible that way, to allow people to “run with things” and find justification for their sin.  Slowly, but surely, they come up with a study of their own and they say, “I do not think that God would not have a believer deprive himself of marriage.  I have been looking at these verses and I see that God does permit marriage after divorce.”  They did not “continue” in (right) doctrine.  Again, life’s circumstances and the cares of this world arose and choked the Word.  Through circumstances that developed in the workplace or in their personal life, they are tested. 

It could also have been a major event like May 21, 2011, which the whole world took notice of, and these people “went out on a limb” and they held to many doctrines and they understood that God had opened up the Scriptures regarding the Biblical timeline of history, but when things did not work out as they were told it would, they began doubting the Biblical calendar.  Their doubt was not because they went back to the Bible and found any fault with it, but just through their lack of seeing anything physical taking shape.  It was really a lack of their seeing with their eyes any “judgment.”  From there, they began to doubt the end of the church age, even though they had been firm and absolute about it; they had been convicted that the church age was over.  But now a couple of years after May 21, 2011, they are posting notes on Face Book (or somewhere else) about their church.  If you talk to them, they say, “Yeah, I went back to church.  I just do not see this end of the church age idea any more.”  They did not “continue” in the Word of God and the doctrine of Christ and this is a terrible thing.  Let me read this verse, again, in 2John 1:9:

Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.

God does this repeatedly (and He can do this with any doctrine) as He tests us on a doctrine.  You say you believe this, but what if circumstances develop and you are put on the spot?  You are going to suffer for the Word’s sake.  There may even be tribulation or persecution that arises and you could suffer financially if you do not work on Sunday.  You could suffer in your personal life if you let this woman go, even if the Bible says you are not to marry again and you cannot have a relationship with her because you are still “married” to your first wife.  The response is, “Yes, but it is so lonely.”  You are put on the spot. 

It is easy to hold to a doctrine that is untried and it is just an intellectual exercise.  You can say, “Yes, I believe there will be no salvation once May 21, 2011 comes, because I think I am going to be raptured and taken out of the world and there will be no salvation for those left behind and, yes, there will be men, women and children and even babies that will be left, but I still hold to the belief that there will be no more salvation…until God arranged things so that I am left in the earth, living in the world during that time and it now affects me and my family personally (my children or my grandchildren) and others I know, and now am I going to continue in the teachings of the Bible concerning those days after that Tribulation?   No, now I do not believe these things for a minute.”  Well, you believed them before when it did not impact you, but God put you on the spot and will you continue in His Word?  And many are not “continuing” in that doctrine and many other doctrines, which is a tragic thing.