The question therefore, ‘Are we part of that house?’ is asking, ‘Will we be members of his eternal kingdom? Have we been pardoned for our sins, and redeemed by him?’ That is answered by pointing to the evidence of salvation which is found in each one of God’s children. How do you tell a true Christian? Well, says the writer to the Hebrews speaking by the Holy Spirit, one way is this: Is this a person who will maintain that profession right to the end? Look at the word ‘if’: ‘whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence’ – our profession, if you like – ‘and the rejoicing of the hope firm until the end.’ The verse does not mean that by holding on you become a Christian. It means this: that if you hold on, it proves that you were truly converted and you became a Christian. Some people read the verse the wrong way: ‘If we endure to the end, we shall be saved.’ No, the sense is, ‘If we endure to the end, it is the final proof that we were truly saved, because it is the truly saved who endure to the end.’ ‘Whose house are we’, may you hold fast your profession, your assent, your emphatic statement that you proved the gospel to be true and you've experienced the Lord in your life day by day, and by the great change of conversion. May you hold that fast all the way to the end, because that alone proves that you were truly saved.
It is said of Christ at the end of his ministry that ‘he loved his own, and he loved them to the end.’ How much is in those words! The faithfulness of Christ: the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints is in those words – the security of every believer. To his own he is utterly faithful, right to the end, and will be for you. May we be utterly faithful to him. The blessings of faithfulness are immense.