Chapter 14:
COUNTING THE COST OF LIVING FOR GOD AND BEING FAITHFUL TO THE DEATH:

Luke 14:28; “For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first, and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it?” (We have to realise what it will cost to belong to Christ. It will cost you EVERYTHING! But there is a price to pay on the other side if you don’t pay the price here. Either way, there is a price most certainly to pay! Here’s a little clue when considering where you’d rather pay it; [The cost on the other side: is incomparably larger.] But I can tell you as one who has chosen to pay the price here; Wow, is it worth it already!)

Rev. 2:10; “…Be faithful unto death, and I will give you a crown of life!”

Phil. 3:11-13; (Paul, more righteous than most of us- did NOT consider himself “saved” until the end of his life when he had been faithful to the death); “IF by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. NOT that I have ALREADY attained, or am ALREADY perfected; but I PRESS ON, that I may lay hold of that for which I also am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do NOT count myself to have laid hold of it yet!”

2Tim. 4:6-8; (Then, only at the end of his life, Paul says this); "The time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have KEPT THE FAITH! NOW, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness…"

Matt. 24:13; “He who ENDURES TO THE END shall be saved.”

Heb. 6:15; “AFTER he had patiently ENDURED, THEN he received the promise.”

Ezek. 33:13; (A man can’t trust in the good he has always done. He is judged by what he does right up until the end.); “When I shall say to the righteous, that he shall surely live; if he trusts in his own righteousness, and commits iniquity, all his righteousness shall not be remembered; but for his iniquity that he has committed, he shall die for it.”

1 Pet. 1:9; “Receiving the END of your faith; which will be the salvation of your souls.”

Heb. 3:14; (Notice the “IF”); “For we are made partakers of Christ, IF we HOLD… STEADFAST TO THE END!”