April 24, 2025 - Acts 14:22 - "Continuing in the Faith"

Acts 14:22

“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"

The Apostle Paul made it a practice to return repeatedly to those whom the LORD drew to Christ through his preaching, encouraging and exhorting them to continue in THE FAITH (Jude 1:3). These follow-up visits were not mere religious pep rallies, but a continuation of the same message of preaching that the LORD used to convert them in the first place. Their turning to Christ was not the result of an orchestrated production of singers and testimonies followed by a public invitation, as many do today. No! It was the clear, simple, and exclusive declaration of the LORD Jesus Christ—His Person and work, accomplished and imputed to the account of elected sinners, completed at Calvary and now made known through the preaching of men like Paul, whom the LORD raised up: "But hath in due times manifested his word through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our Saviour;" (Titus 1:3).

Paul needed to return, encourage, and ‘confirm’ (literally to strengthen) the disciples' souls because their identification with THE TRUTH engendered opposition. Paul himself had just been stoned for declaring the LORD Jesus as the Son of God, equal with God, and for proclaiming salvation purposed, accomplished, and revealed exclusively in, by, and through Him: "And there came thither certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium, who persuaded the people, and, having stoned Paul, drew him out of the city, supposing he had been dead. Howbeit, as the disciples stood round about him, he rose up, and came into the city: and the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe" (Acts 14:19–20). He did not hesitate to tell his hearers that they were to repent of the vanities of their false worship and turn to the Living God—the Giver, Procurer, Sustainer, and Source of all life, both physical and spiritual: "And saying, Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein" (Acts 14:15).

The apostle's charge to these disciples to continue in THE FAITH was not merely a call to perseverance, but rather to a wholehearted adherence to THE FAITH—that body of truth revealed in the Gospel in connection with Christ and His death, which declares God's only salvation for sinners. It was purposed before the foundation of the world, procured at Calvary, revealed by the Spirit of God, and proclaimed through the Gospel. You can’t continue in what you have never known or heard. On the other hand, if the LORD has been pleased to reveal in you Christ and His righteousness—established, accomplished, and imputed at Calvary (THE FAITH)—you will not be persuaded otherwise, and hearing it again and again will certainly be a strengthening and comfort to your soul.

In addition, Paul declares that “we must through much tribulation”—or more accurately, “through many tribulations”—enter into the kingdom of God. Paul certainly could attest to this because of the preaching of the cross of Christ, and he adds in writing to Timothy: “All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution” (2 Timothy 3:12). This is the offense of the cross—that it gives no credence to man’s works nor will, but only to the work of Christ, accomplished at the cross for elected sinners and their full, free, final, and forever justification upon the completion of His work on their behalf.