The Holiest of All By Andrew Murray

Ibolfest of ail 215
XLVII.
INHERITING THE PROMISE.
VI. 13. For when God made promise to Abraham, since he could sware
by none greater, he sware by himself,
14. Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will
multiply thee.
15. And thus, having patiently endured, 1
he obtained, the promise.
THE Epistle
is
dealing with one of the greatest dangers
spiritual life.
in the
All experience amply confirms what was seen in
the first Christian churches, that many who began well stood
still and then turned back. The Christian life is a race : to
begin profits nothing
unless we run to the end and reach the
goal. Faith may accept only longsuffering inherits the promise.
;
Day by day, without intermission, rather with ever-growing
zeal and diligence, our allegiance to Jesus our Leader must be
maintained, or backsliding must inevitably ensue. And the
Church of Christ is a very hospital of backsliding Christians,
who meant honestly, in the joy of their first love, to live wholly
for God, and who yet gradually sank down into a life of
formality and feebleness. There is nothing the Church needs
more than the preaching of daily diligence and perseverance as
the indispensable condition of growth and strength. Let us
learn from the Epistle how these virtues can be fostered in
ourselves and others.
It had spoken of those who through faith
and longsuffering inherit the promises. It will now show us,
1 Suffered long.