The Lord is not expecting 100% success with us, but He is expecting faithfulness to

the truth He has revealed to us by the Holy Spirit. What happens if others disagree with

us or even leave us? Do we then modify our beliefs or keep silent about them to avoid

trouble? What did the Apostles do in similar circumstances? Read carefully what

happened to Paul in II Tim. 1: 15. He tells Timothy that "all in Asia forsook him". Asia

was a large province and note Paul does not say that some had forsaken him. All

believers there had done so and this must have involved hundreds of Christians who had

professed to be standing with the apostle in this new Truth. What a terrible blow this

must have been, but did he give up? No! See what he says in II Tim. 4: 16, 17, and

also note what he said to the Corinthian church concerning some who had turned away in

division (I Cor. 11: 18, 19). Note also what the apostle John said in a similar experience

(I John 2: 19).

Faithfulness certainly costs, and some are not willing to pay the price. And yet, at the

end when we meet the Lord face to face, would it not be wonderful to hear Him say to us,

(or its equivalent), "well done, good and faithful servant" (Matt. 25: 21, 23)? Also

carefully note I Cor. 4: 2 and II Tim. 2: 2 with its stress on faithfulness. If we have

received the "good deposit" of truth, let us guard all of it as being precious, remembering

that one day we shall have to give an account of our stewardship to the Lord.

In addition to the facts of the last article, there are other points to be considered.

After Acts 28: and the laying aside in unbelief of Israel as a nation and their

destruction by the Romans in 70A.D., what happened to Peter, James & John and their

ministry which was primarily to Israel (Gal. 2: 7-9)?  We say primarily to Israel

advisedly, for Peter was instructed by the Lord to widen his ministry to include the

Gentiles at Acts 10:, and its quite unscriptural to represent his ministry as being solely to

Israel. The O.T. had made it clear that God's earthly kingdom purposes included the

Gentile nations otherwise it could never be world-wide, and the O.T. prediction that "the

earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord" (Isa. 11: 9) be realized. All that

happened during the Acts was in line with this and must have been a feature of the

ministry of James and John as well.

While Israel as a nation sank deeper and deeper into unbelief and rejection of the great

Kingdom offer given in Acts 3: 19-26, there was still a number of faithful ones who

responded to their ministry. They were likened by the apostle Paul to a faithful remnant,

a "remnant according to the election of grace" (Rom. 11: 1-5). The doctrine of the

remnant is an important one and runs through the O.T. as well, for God never leaves

Himself without a witness, and this was always true in times of apostasy that the O.T.

records, and it also includes the N.T.