Acts 11:23 Who, when he came, and had seen the grace of God, was glad, and exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord.
This is a wonderful and powerful verse. As I was meditating on the phrase, cleave unto the Lord (after all, he asked us, What does cleave unto the Lord mean?) other passages in the book of Acts came to mind.
I went to Acts 13:14-43, which is Barnabas and Paul in Antioch in Pisidia. At the conclusion of the sermon we read:
43 Now when the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas: who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God.
Next, I turned to Acts 14:21-23, in which Paul and Barnabas returned again to Lystra, and to Iconium, and Antioch,
22 Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.
This is so cool. Barnabas is involved in all three incidents and Paul in two. Here is a clear apostolic (Barnabas and Saul were called by the Spirit and commissioned by the church, Acts 13:1-4) exhortation, one that we don’t hear much today:
cleave unto the Lord • continue in the grace of God • continue in the faith
These are three different Greek words, but they all have the same root and mean: remain, continue, persevere, hold fast. The Apostles felt it necessary to persuade and exhort new believers to continue in the faith, to continue in the grace of God, to hold fast to the Lord. I thought to myself, If the Apostles thought it was important to exhort new believers this way, perhaps we should as well.
Then this morning I looked up other verses with the word continue :
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;
John 15:9 As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.
Romans 11:22 Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.
Colossians 1:23 If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister;
Colossians 4:2 Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving;
1 Timothy 2:15 Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.
1 Timothy 4:16 Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.
2 Timothy 3:14 But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them;
Hebrews 13:1 Let brotherly love continue.
1 John 2:24 Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father.
These are things we don’t hear very often, if at all, but which were obviously important to the Apostles and the Spirit who inspired them! Continue. Don’t simply begin, but continue. Begin the race and finish the race. I will leave it to you my readers to meditate on these occurrences of continue and then determine the significance of continuing and consequences of not continuing, but I will exhort you,
Continue!
You’ve begun, now run the whole race!
You’ve made a good start, be sure to finish!
Anyway, that’s some of what I got from the teaching time yesterday.
Don’t you dare quit!
You • Keep • Holding on!
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