Rev 14:12+13, Here is the perseverance of the saints who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus. And I heard a voice from heaven, saying, "Write, 'Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on!'" "Yes," says the Spirit, "that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow with them." 
	As we continue in this letter of the Revelation of Jesus Christ, we come once more to a phraseology that John, by the direct inspiration of the Holy Spirit, has recorded in previous verses. That makes it something that we, as the Church, need to consider in terms of what the Lord is saying to us. We are very much after that which pleases God in His Church. After all, we have looked at how our prayers are to be ordered unto Him, how our worship is to glorify Him, and how we are to consider Him in the midst of our walk on this earth. In every instance and detail, we are to see Christ as the Victor, no matter how clouded and shrouded this world order presents itself. As we continually put our trust and reliance upon the True Lord of Heaven and earth. We will never be drawn away from Him and will continuously honor Him in these lives that we live.
	Here is the perseverance of the saints… We have read a similar terminology in Rev 13:10, If anyone is destined for captivity, to captivity he goes; if anyone kills with the sword, with the sword he must be killed. Here is the perseverance and the faith of the saints. In both instances there is a great conflict absolutely surrounding the saints of God. It is presented in the setting that is almost hopeless, with the beast having extreme power. The beast is given the worship due to God and is given the power to overcome the saints. Yet, despite all the devastating and horrendous evil that the saints suffer, we see this perseverance and their faith in Jesus Christ. They hold true to Christ, even to the discouraging, disappointing, desperate, and seemingly impossible end of their lives. Here is the perseverance of the saints…
	This perseverance is a vital reality of our lives in Christ. It is something that is not common within the heart of humanity. Most of us will last under the various sieges of this age for a time, some longer, some shorter. But this perseverance is to face the absolute dissolution of everything that we hold near and dear on this earth and to face it with a confident expectation that God will triumph. To persevere, even if we must lay down our all for Him, is a thing that not many of us have had to face to this point. This perseverance is a patient determination and expectation that no matter what happens; we will not be moved off the victorious ground of the triumph of Jesus Christ. No matter who disagrees with us, no matter how much energy is exerted to drag or torment us away from our faith in the truth of God’s love in His Only Begotten Son, we will not budge! 
This is not a stubborn characteristic of mankind with which we are dealing. This is not a pig-headedness or mulishness of obstinacy that plagues many people once they make up their minds that they are right and everyone else is wrong. No, this perseverance is the inability to forsake the person of Jesus Christ Who has become our everything. This is the patient expectation that the One Whom we have come to know intimately and dearly and personally loves us so much, that we cannot forsake or abandon Him. This perseverance is the expression of our heart of love for Him that will not be moved, under any circumstances because we could not face the disappointment that we would see in His eyes if we gave up. It is because we love Him, Who so loved us, that we will endure to the very end of this world for His name’s sake.
Let us consider the fullness of this perseverance in the intimate relationship that we have with God in our Lord Jesus Christ. We begin to get a glimpse of what it entails as we listen to Christ in His parable of the sower and the seed. Luke 8:15+16, "And the seed in the good soil, these are the ones who have heard the word in an honest and good heart, and hold it fast, and bear fruit with perseverance. "Now no one after lighting a lamp covers it over with a container, or puts it under a bed; but he puts it on a lampstand, in order that those who come in may see the light. To bear fruit with perseverance is to allow our hearts to undergo all the preparation work necessary. There will be tilling and uprooting and nourishment. There will be weeding and pruning and cutting away of all that is detrimental to the full crop to be harvested.
Then note that the Lord continues with the truth that there will be visible evidence to all as to the work that He has invested in our lives. We will become those lights that show the rest of the world the truth of Our Lord Jesus Christ. His Word will flourish and shine forth as the light of the One Who gives us life. 
	The Apostle Paul deals with this theme of the perseverance that is required in the life of the true Christian in His letter to the Roman church. Rom 2:3-8, And do you suppose this, O man, when you pass judgment upon those who practice such things and do the same yourself, that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who will render to every man according to his deeds: to those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life; but to those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath and indignation.
Notice that this, too, is the use of perseverance within a warning as to the behavior of the Christian. Those who are so in love with Christ that their lives reflect His good works will persevere to the glory and the honor of God. They will receive eternal life, not because of how they act on this earth, but because they are so in love with Jesus that they choose to honor and to glorify Him in the manner in which they live their lives. 
There is a tremendous difference in the reason for which we choose to do things. When we are the focus, we are bound by tradition and by legalism and by those elements that make us think that we can be so good as to prove our capacity for good and for right. But, when we are motivated by the desire to simply express our love for Christ, we are not bound up with the rules and the regulations. Rather, we choose to do those things, and only those things that are pleasing to Him. We are not forced to do good, we choose to do good because it will express our heart of love. We go to church, not because we have to go under some guideline of appropriate Christian behavior. We go because we love to gather with the fellow believers to celebrate the love that we share in pleasing Jesus Christ. Our motive is no longer to prove our worthiness, it is to honor and to glorify the One Who so loved us unto Himself.    
	As the Apostle Paul continues throughout this letter, we see the greater and greater emphasis that is placed on the perseverance of the saints. Rom 5:1-5, Therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God. And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. 
	Notice that once again, perseverance is vitally connected to tribulation. It is in the midst of the tribulation that perseverance flourishes. Along with perseverance, there develops proven character. This is the relationship aspect of perseverance in which we become so enamored with Christ getting us through each trial and suffering and difficulty that we cannot do anything else but honor Him in the manner in which we consider Him. We stand by Him as He stands by us. It is a proven relationship of mutual love and adoration and intimate brotherhood. Because of His faithfulness in every instance, we have hope, even when there appears to be no avenue of hope. The reason for this is that we do not hope for deliverance for ourselves from the events. Our hope is settled eternally in the very person of Jesus Christ, Who is our salvation. 
	Rom 8:24+25, For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one also hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it. Our every hope is set in the Lord, Himself, Who will prove Himself to this world as He has already proven Himself to us. That is why we have a sure and true hope. We have already experienced the foundation of our hope in Him. We already have come into a personal and living reality that is Our Lord Jesus Christ. We could no longer deny Him than we could deny ourselves because He means that much and more to us. Our very nature is His nature. As we are learning more of Him on a daily basis, our hope in Him grows and matures and becomes increasingly settled and grounded to the point that He is the very life that we live.    
	Rom 15:4-6, For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus; that with one accord you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 
This becomes the very focal point of the lives that we live on this earth. We are of the same heart as Christ. Our desire is that all we say and do and think is more and more to the glory of God, Our Heavenly Father. Of course we are not perfect in this worshipful life that we live. We are not God incarnate, as is Our Lord and Savior. But, as He indwells us and works in us through His Word and through His Holy Spirit, so are we brought more and more livingly in line with that which is true and honest in Him. 
We hold forth the desire, more and more, that God is glorified on this, His earth, and throughout all of creation. That is, after all, the hardest part of being found in Jesus Christ in the midst of the trials and the tribulations. We find ourselves grieving over the fact that God is not recognized and honored. We gain an increasing sense of the stirring and the groaning of the Holy Spirit as we recognize the shame and the defiled mess that is being foisted upon humanity by this world as the gods of self.
	Again, the Apostle Paul encourages us at this point of despair to see the truth of Jesus Christ and to hold firm to the reality that this world refuses to acknowledge. Eph 6:14-20, Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming missiles of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints, and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak. 
	We are given this catalogue of those truths that we need in order to persevere in the days in which we live. This is an accurate manifestation of the protection that is ours against the evilness of our time. We must prepare for the battle, but that spiritual battle is not based on our ability to fight for the right. It is based on our unwavering stand against all that would try to remove our eyes and hearts from the true King of this creation. That is the truth upon which we unyieldingly and unwaveringly set our feet - never to run or to flinch in the face of the most hideous and heinous opposition. 
	We hold true to our Lord Jesus Christ, rooted like a mighty oak against all the fury of the hurricanes of the lies and disinformation that is hurled against us. No matter what, we preserve because we know Him in Whom our trust and our hope is settled for all of eternity. 
Even if it does cost us everything, we know that He is worth every sacrifice, every wound, every slander, and every act of hatred and malice. To deny Him would be worse than all that we could ever physically or mentally bear. As a direct result, we stand together in prayer and in supplication; supported by those whose hearts are the same, all to the glory of God on High. Praise His Holy and Awesome name forever and forever. Amen.
	In two weeks, Lord willing, we will continue with this fact of the perseverance of the saints as God’s Church to His glory on earth. So be it!
Here is the perseverance of the saints who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus. And I heard a voice from heaven, saying, "Write, 'Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on!'" "Yes," says the Spirit, "that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow with them." Amen.

This morning’s benediction is Acts 20:32. "And now I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified. Amen.