Are we once saved, always saved? Does it matter how we live? – 9/14/20

OSAS?

These are just a few of the verses that go against the OSAS doctrine. Eternal security that is independent of what you do or not do is NOT biblical. 

“But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who “will render to each one according to his deeds”: eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality; but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness—indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek; but glory, honor, and peace to everyone who works what is good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For there is no partiality with God.” -Romans 2:5-11 (Read the rest of Romans 2 to get context.)

Eternal life will only be given to those who CONTINUE in doing good, and eternal punishment will be given to those who do evil. 

“What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him?… Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” -James 2:14 & 17 

“Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” And he was called the friend of God. You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only. Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way? For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.” -James 2:21-26 (Read the rest of James 2 for more context.) 

“For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother.” -Matthew 12:50 

“Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” -James 4:8

“Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous.” -Psalm 69:28

How can you be blotted out if you were never written there in the first place? You can’t erase something you never wrote down.

“You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.” -Galatians 5:4 

You can’t fall from something or lose something that you never had in the first place. (Just to be clear, I am not saying that works saves us. Works without faith is just as pointless as faith without works. What I am saying is that true faith and love for God will produce works, because God says if you love me, keep my commandments and his commandments will not be grievous if we love him. We will WANT to do them.)

Also, another good example is the parable of the branches being cut off when they no longer bear fruit. (John 15) How can they be cut off if they were never connected to the tree in the first place? To be cut off, you had to have been abiding in before. He says abide in me, and I will abide in you. So if you don’t abide in him, he’s not going to abide in you. Light has no fellowship with darkness. You can be abiding in him at one point, and then stop abiding in him. Likewise, he can be abiding in you, but if you stop abiding in him, he will withdraw himself and no longer abide in you. 

Read Hebrews 10, verses 26-39. Verses 26-27 say this, “26For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries.” 
It says there NO LONGER remains a sacrifice of sins if you continue in willful sin. As in there once was a sacrifice that covered your sins, but if you turn away and continue in willful sin (disobedience) then there NO LONGER is a sacrifice. You are NO LONGER saved, because Jesus NO LONGER lives in you. No longer, as in he once did but now he doesn’t. That sacrifice is only for those who abide in Christ and they are the only ones who will be saved. So this man once was saved, but if he continues sinning willfully, he will NO LONGER be saved. Also, keep in mind that he is speaking of a once mature Christian who has endured persecution etc.

Instead of asking people if they are saved, we should ask “does Christ live in you?” Because this is what determines if we are saved or not, and Christ will not live in you if you are continuing in disobedience! He can withdraw his spirit from you. He can be abiding in you at one point, and then leave and no longer be abiding in you.

“29Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?” 
He has trodden under foot the Son of God and the blood with which he was sanctified. So he was once sanctified, but now is no longer sanctified because he’s trodden it under foot. 

“35Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. 36For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised.”
He is telling him not to cast away his confidence. How can he cast away his confidence if he was never saved in the first place? The only confidence he would have is if he was saved. It also says that IF he has done the will if God, THEN he will receive what was promised. ONLY if he does the will of God. It is possible to stop doing the will if God, then you no longer are saved. Salvation isn’t a ‘thing’ that we get and never lose. Salvation is Jesus, and we can turn away from Jesus, therefore turning away from our salvation. Salvation is abiding in Jesus and following him.
“My righteousness is near, My salvation has gone forth, And My arms will judge the peoples; The coastlands will wait upon Me, And on My arm they will trust.” -Isaiah 51:5 Salvation is the Lord’s, and he can take it away. 

“39But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul.”
SHRINK BACK to destruction. He is saying here that we must not go BACK to destruction. As in, we were once on the wrong path, and that it is possible to go back to the wrong path that leads to hell. We must continue on the straight and narrow path and not look back, for it is VERY possible to look back, or we’ll lose our salvation.
But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” -Luke 9:62 

“14So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. 15Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. 16He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction. 17Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure position. 18But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.” -2 Peter 3:14-18 

FALL from your SECURE position. He is warning us that it is possible we could fall from our secure position. 

Are we greater than Paul who said even he could fall? And we know that Paul has eternal life abiding in Him and that he had the Holy Spirit.
“But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.” -1 Corinthians 9:27

Marriage analogy: Just as a man can call off the engagement at anytime, because he is not yet married to his bride, we are not yet married to Christ, so he can still choose to not marry us if we proof to be unfaithful. We are engaged now, but it is possible to break off the engagement and no longer be together. 

We have the free will to choose to love and obey God, or do the opposite by disobeying him. God does not force us to love or follow him. Forced love is a contradiction. He desires that all would be saved, but not all will. Our choices have consequences, because God is a just judge. Our choices will send us either to heaven or hell; eternal life or eternal punishment.

“30Now it came to pass on the next day that Moses said to the people, “You have committed a great sin. So now I will go up to the Lord; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.” 31Then Moses returned to the Lord and said, “Oh, these people have committed a great sin, and have made for themselves a god of gold! 32Yet now, if You will forgive their sin—but if not, I pray, BLOT ME OUR of Your book which You have written.” 33And the Lord said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against Me, I WILL BLOT HIM OUT of My book. 34Now therefore, go, lead the people to the place of which I have spoken to you. Behold, My Angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when I visit for punishment, I will visit punishment upon them for their sin.” 35So the Lord plagued the people because of what they did with the calf which Aaron made.” -Exodus 32:30-35 

“If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and are overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them. Of them the proverbs are true: “A dog returns to its vomit,” and, “A sow that is washed returns to her wallowing in the mud.” -2 Peter 2:20-22

 

Christ is eternal life. If you have Christ abiding in you, then you have eternal life, but if you don’t have Jesus, then you don’t have eternal life!

I don’t believe that our decision to stop following Jesus and turning from our salvation is considered being plucked from his hand. When I think of something being plucked or snatched from someone’s hand, I think of somebody taking that thing from that person, which I agree nobody can do that. BUT when we turn from God and CHOOSE sin over him, that is our choice of choosing to walk away from him. We are willfully turning from him, not being plucked out of his hand. There’s a difference. 

“And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.” -John 10:28

Notice that it is saying that no one can snatch them out of his hand. Again, I believe this verse is true, but when you are turning from Jesus, someone is not snatching/stealing/taking you from him; you are choosing to turn away. 

“1Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,” Also, “But he who endures to the end shall be saved.” -Matthew 24:13. What would be the point in running the race with endurance if we can’t lose our salvation? What’s the point in enduring?