We Can’t Endure on Our Own - Ask Pastor John

Video from Desiring God

We Can’t Endure on Our Own - Ask Pastor John

"Audio Transcript

We won’t endure on our own. God brings brothers and sisters in Christ into our lives to help us along the path to heaven. That’s actually one of the great themes in Bunyan’s famous allegory Pilgrim’s Progress. Faithful and Hopeful are the friends Christian needs, his fellowship, along his path to the gates of the Celestial City. That’s a point we get into today in a discussion about a very specific question from an anonymous listener. Here it is.

“Hi Pastor John. I was reflecting on 1 Corinthians 10:13, which speaks of God providing a way out of temptation, and I began thinking about Jesus’s crucifixion, particularly the moment when Simon was made to carry Jesus’s cross. In my study, I found that this act could be seen as God’s provision for Jesus, helping him endure the unimaginable pain of the crucifixion. Since Jesus came to experience all that humanity faces, including suffering, it seems that God didn’t allow Jesus to rely on his divine strength to bear the cross. Instead, Simon’s involvement in carrying the cross provided a physical relief for Jesus, allowing him to endure and complete the suffering.

“This makes me wonder if, in some way, this act of heavenly help mirrors the way God provides us with ways to endure our own temptations and trials, as promised in 1 Corinthians 10:13. Could it be that in our lowest points, when we are tempted beyond our capacity to bear, God’s provision — whether through his direct help or through others — gives us what we need to keep going? I’d appreciate your thoughts on this connection between Christ’s cross-carrying and our own endurance in the face of suffering.”

Simon and Jesus

First, a word about Simon and his carrying Jesus’s cross. And then what I really want to focus on is the utterly crucial observation that God sends people into our lives who are crucial for enabling us to endure to the end.

If I were preaching a sermon on Simon’s carrying the cross, I probably would not focus on the fact that he showed up at the right time to help Jesus complete his mission, just as Jesus’s human strength was failing. We just don’t know that. It might be true — I don’t have any theological objection to it — but it’s not explicit in the text, while a couple of other things are.

For example, Simon is from Cyrene, mentioned in all three Gospels where this is recorded. That’s the capital city of the Roman province of Cyrenaica, which is modern-day Libya in North Africa. Now, why mention that? In fact, why mention his name at all? Here we have a foreigner, suffering with Jesus in his sacrifice for us, which is a picture, perhaps, of discipleship, since Jesus said that following him means bearing a cross. That’s where I would start. That’s what I would focus on, just because it’s there, and I would avoid speculation about whether Jesus was running out of gas because he had been beaten so badly. Maybe, maybe not.

Endurance and Provision

This question is much more important and far-reaching, though, than thoughts about Simon. The question is whether this picture of Jesus being helped is like 1 Corinthians 10:13, which says, “No temptation” — or no test. The word for test and temptation are the same word in Greek, and I recommend that when you read 1 Corinthians 10:13 you try both to see which fits your situation, because it’s true for temptation, and it’s true for test. “No [test] has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be [tested] beyond your ability, but with the [test] he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”

“Eternal security is a community project.”

And the question our friend is asking is this: “Could it be that in our lowest points, when we are tempted [or tested] beyond our capacity to bear, God’s provision — whether through his direct help or through others,” he says, “gives us what we need to keep going?” The answer is absolutely yes. That is what 1 Corinthians 10:13 means.

Let’s notice three things from Scripture. First, notice that we must endure to the end in order to be saved. Mark 13:13: “You will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.” James 1:12: “Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life.” We must endure. We must keep on trusting Christ. If we make shipwreck of our faith and throw away our trust, we will simply show we never were born again, we never had eternal life, and we will perish.

Here’s the second thing to notice: Not only must we endure; we will endure. We will endure to the end. Those who are chosen by God before the foundation of the world will come to faith, and those who come to faith will be justified, and those who are justified will persevere to the end, and those who persevere to the end will be glorified, and to have glorification is to be saved for eternal life. (That’s my paraphrase of Romans 8:30.) So, yes, we must persevere; we will persevere.

Now, here’s the third thing, and this relates most directly to the question. God uses means not only to bring us to repentance and faith at the beginning (faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word, Romans 10:17), but he also uses means, human means, to keep us believing. Eternal security is a community project.

Perseverance and Help

Here’s the key passage about that, Hebrews 3:12–14: “Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil [heart of unbelief].” “Brothers” — he’s talking to Christians — “take care . . . lest there be . . . an evil [heart of unbelief], leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day” — this is the human instrumentality, the human means — “as long as it is called ‘today,’ that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.”

Oh, how important these words are for every Christian who intends to persevere to the end and be saved. First, there’s a warning against an unbelieving heart leading us to fall away from the living God. And I know that there are some people who think, God should not talk to us like that if we’re Christians. God should not warn us like that. But I would say, since the warning is actually there, we should believe that’s the way God keeps his children from falling. Don’t reject what God has given you as a precious gift to help you persevere to the end — by warning you not to fall.

Then, alongside the warning, he gives very specific practical instruction. “Exhort one another every day, as long as it is called ‘today,’” lest there be hardening and falling away. Don’t let it happen. God uses human exhortations from friends and pastors and family and books and emails and Internet sermons to keep us believing. Eternal security is a community project.

It would not be a contradiction to say, “Jesus would not have made it to the cross if Simon had not helped him,” if we also say, “God infallibly planned for Simon to help him.” Now, I don’t know if that’s true, that Jesus would not have made it to the cross without Simon. I’m just saying that it would not be a contradiction to say, “He would not have made it without Simon,” if we also say, “God infallibly planned for Simon to help him make it.”

And the same is true for every help that we need from people to persevere to the end in faith. It’s not a contradiction to say, “We must persevere to the end in faith; we will not make it without the means that God has appointed to get us there,” if we also say, “God will see to it that those means show up and that we respond to them.” He will see to it. Second Peter 2:9 says, “The Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials.” Indeed, he does. And one of the ways that he does it is by causing people to warn us and exhort us to trust the promises of God and press on.

Paul gives an amazing encouragement in 2 Corinthians 9:8: “God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.” In other words, every work of faith that God requires of us to make it to the end, he gives the grace to perform. He never leaves us to ourselves. Therefore, we must persevere, and we will persevere, because there will be the necessary Simons of Cyrene to help us bear the load." from the Transcript

John Piper (@JohnPiper) is founder and teacher of Desiring God and chancellor of Bethlehem College and Seminary. For 33 years, he served as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is author of more than 50 books, including Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist and most recently Foundations for Lifelong Learning: Education in Serious Joy. Read more about John.

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