“These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. 1 John 5:10-13

Ephesians 2:8,9 “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:  Not of works, lest any man should boast.”

The reason that Jesus’ gift of eternal life is such good news is that it is free. And not complicated, simple enough for a child to understand:.”Believe in Jesus Christ, trust he paid the penalty for your sin on the cross, that died in your place and rose again, as the following verses describe, and you are saved. That’s it!

This post comprises seven parts:

• The basis of our salvation – the gospel
• God wants all men to be saved
• The reformer’s view of salvation.
• Catholic doctrine of salvation.
• A discussion on our eternal position as God’s children, being ‘forever family”.
• Objections to ‘Once saved, always saved.’ (our eternal security)
•  A Bible Study covering Salvation and our eternal security – 

A) The Gospel, the good news of salvation:

• Our sin and disobedience has separated us from God: our destiny without God is the ‘lake of fire’.
• Rom 3:23 “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;”
• Rom 3:10 “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:”
• Rev 20:14,15 ”And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

 

• Jesus rescues us from hell by dying in  our place, showing God’s love for us:
• Rom 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
• Rom 5:8 “But God commends his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
• Ephesians 2:4,5 “But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,  Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us (made us alive) together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)  And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
• John 3:16-18 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believes on him is not condemned: but he that believes not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”

• What must we do? “Believe”.

There is no requirement to clean up my life first, the Bible teaches to only trust like a child that Jesus wants to save me.

• Acts 16:29-31 “Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas, And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.”
• John 6:28,29 “Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent“
• John 6:47 “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believes on me hath everlasting life”
• John 6:40 “And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which sees the Son, and believes on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.”
• John 3:36 “He that believes on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believes not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abides on him.”

Receive the gift of everlasting life

Like a child, take the gift, its free, paid for already!

• Ephesians 2:8 “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: {2:9} Not of works, lest any man should boast
• John 1:12 “But as many as received him, gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:”
• John 10:28,29: “And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.
• Rom 6:23b “; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
• Ephesians 2:8,9 “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:  Not of works, lest any man should boast.”

How do we accept God’s gift? Speak to Jesus, verbally confess your acceptance of Jesus (of Him, his words, his promise and offer of salvation) and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead. Romans 10:9,10″ “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. ¹⁰ For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”

It is essential for believers to be clear on the simplicity of the gospel. Paul warns that there WILL be those who will preach another Jesus, those who say, yes, “we are saved by grace through faith, it is a gift of God”. But then they add “Remember that we also should …. “(then follows some man-made or some Old Testament condition that is added to the gospel, changing it.) Paul says:

2 Cor 11:3 “But I (Paul) fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. {11:4} For if he that comes preaches another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.

B) ALL men

John 12:32 “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.”

Jesus died for all and wants all to be saved. It is impossible to miss this in scripture. The most famous verse in the bible, John 3:16, teaches this. So do multitudes of others. (Luke 2:10-11, 30-32, 3:6, John 1:7,1:9, 6:40,44-45; 11:25-26 17:2. Rom 1:16, 3:22-25,28, 5:8, 8:32, 10:4, 12-13. Gal 3:8-9, Heb 2:9. 1Tim 2:1-6, 4:10, Tit2:11. Rev 22:17 ) Click on the link All men . (for further discussion on ‘all men’, also refer to post 4.2)

It is very important to know that it is possible that ‘my choice’ and ‘God’s enablement of our faith’ can co-exist. Yes, I need to make a choice to accept Jesus’s offer, the offer of eternal life with Him. And yes, I probably wouldn’t have desired to be with God forever if He had not worked in me and hadn’t drawn me to Him. Now note from John 6:44-45  and 12:32 (above) that God draws all men. God works in the lives of all mankind, to enable them to make a choice. Jesus died and paid for the sins of every person. No one is excluded.

Why is this so fundamental? It is for me, because if Jesus died for everyone, I can be 100% sure that he suffered and died for me too. And if He has already graciously paid for my sin, why would I not accept His offer to be joined to Him? To be made pure and right with God. Simply by saying “Thanks, I believe You and accept your offer”!

So if I’m 100% sure He died for all,  I can be 100% sure He paid for all my sins too, and I can be 100% sure that I’m saved.

Everlasting is forever, no ifs or buts

We need to be clear about the gospel and what that means. Jesus says: Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that hears my word, and believes on him that sent me, has everlasting life,” John 5:24. That is present tense, that means it’s going to last forever. That is the character of the gift, it doesn’t wear out, fade away, waste away, get corrupted or ever stop being yours.  Its everlasting and it is yours forever.

And if it doesn’t last forever, I received some other gift from somebody other than Jesus, and that means I never had everlasting life. If Jesus says its everlasting, I  really wouldn’t try arguing with Him.

Let us say for a moment, hypothetically, that I believe I could lose my salvation after receiving it, after committing some terrible sin or lapse in faith, and thus loose the gift of Jesus. If I was to say I lost my gift of everlasting life with Him, then I would be saying, in effect:

• Although I’m was believer in Jesus and I believed and trusted in everything that Jesus said, and also that He said: “He that believes on me, has everlasting life”, John 6:47 , present tense, meaning I had it then, and….
• Although I agree God knows God knows everything, He knows the future, and that God knows how my life is going to go, “he knows the end from the beginning”, and that God will have known in advance if at some point I might question my faith in Him,

I would still (wrongly) think that:

• If I stop believing, I will loose my everlasting life, and that my everlasting life was for a while only.
• So I do think that it’s possible that someone might have everlasting life today but might lose it tomorrow, if they stop believing.
• This means my everlasting life didn’t last forever, it could possibly only last one day.

So I would still (wrongly) think that,

• Even though God knew I was going to loose my everlasting life, He called it everlasting anyway, and
• Even though He knew in advance that I was going to lose it, He still gave me the gift and called it eternal.

Can you see how illogical it is? It makes no sense for someone to think like that. But what Jesus is saying is that we get everlasting life the moment we believe, AND that we CAN NOT LOOSE IT! That is how amazing God is. Believe Him, put your trust in Jesus saving you from sin, and you have ever lasting life! He then takes responsibility for the rest of your life. You’ve entrusted your life to God, He then takes over from here. He will make sure you end up with Him no matter what.

Not Condemned

Remember Jesus also says in John 5:24:

” the one who believes has everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation;”

You will not be condemned. He doesn’t say you’re never going to sin again, but you’re not going to be condemned, that is what he is saying. Then he says this: “but is passed from death unto life” , it has already happened the moment after believing. I mean, that’s just a powerful statement about the fact we are saved eternally, we will not be condemned, we have passed from death unto life.

Deceitful workers

Why do so few people believe in our eternal salvation? As Jesus warned, wolves will try enter the fold. The people that Paul mentions in 2 Cor 11:3 above, the ones who corrupt the gospel, are people who are preaching another Jesus, they sound like the real thing, we agree with 95% of what they are saying, but as Paul continues….

2 Cor 11:13 For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. {11:14} And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. {11:15}  Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.

They will be judged according to their works, not according to the message of grace, which they have corrupted. Salvation always was, and always will be, by grace through faith and not by works. Rom 4:5 “But to him that works not, but believes on him that justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness”

Praise God that we will not be judged according to our works!

 

C) OSAS: Comment on the Reformed understanding.

At the synod of Dordrecht in the Netherlands, approximately 80 years after Luther’s first challenge to the catholic church, various questions regarding salvation were addressed. The reformation had spread throughout Europe, and bible teaching on various questions regarding salvation needed to be clarified, in particular predestination. To gain a good understanding of the thinking at the time, refer to the link  http://www.apuritansmind.com/creeds-and-confessions/the-synod-of-dordt-1618-1619-a-d/.

It may be clearly seen that, as the reformation spread, an intellectual component was added to the reformation. Jesus warned:

Cor 2 11:3} But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ {11:4} For if he that came preaches another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.

 The later reformation leaders unfortunately dismissed this warning, and these leaders started preaching ‘another gospel’, the predestination gospel. This is not a good news gospel. 

These later reformers firstly attempted to address the apparent conflict between man’s choice and God’s foreknowledge. The Old Testament affirms that it is our responsibility to choose. God repeatedly pleads with his people to choose, to follow His ways and commandments. In Deut. 30 God says through Moses:

{30:19} I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:

We have a choice. That is very clear from the Old Testament. The later reformers like Calvin ignored this.  The reformers insisted on applying logic to a concept where ‘God’s ways are higher than our ways, and His thoughts higher than our thoughts.’ (Is 55:9) We believe that it is not necessary to attempt to force an answer, as they did. We simply believe that these two seeming opposites, our free will and God’s enablement, can live side by side.

Refer to the Link Choice and Calvin for the scriptures used by Calvin to justify Calvinism’s ‘another gospel’. Like most deceptions, the first statement is often the biggest lie. If we swallow the first, the rest seems reasonable. This is where Calvin is in direct conflict with scripture, is his first point:”The total depravity of man”. That is simply not true. Men are not so utterly depraved that they chave no concept what is good and what is bad, what is pleasing to God and what is not. . Men like Josiah and Hezekiah exercised choice, and honored God in a paganised environment. In the Old Testament even some unsaved men are commended as good men. In the new testament Joseph of Arimathea is commended as a good man. If Jesus says to the crowd: “If you, who know how to give good gifts …”, clearly there is some good in man.

We will thus strongly disagree with the Calvinistic reformers about predestination. God offers salvation to all and wants all to be saved. Click on the link All men . The term ‘whosoever’ in John 3:16’s is clearly an invitation that is open to all.  Jesus has paid for the sin of the whole world. Jesus’s offer of eternal life is open to every person, and eternal life is given to whosoever receives it in faith, at the moment they believe in Jesus Christ. Yet, in some mysterious way, although it does seem asif were 100% required to trust and believe when we hear the gospel, it is at the same time God who helps us to do that. Ephesians 1:4 clearly states:

{1:3} Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: {1:4} According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we  should be holy and without blame before him in love: {1:5} Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will.” 

and Romans 8

8:29} For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. {8:30} Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.

Yes, in the same way that we are not able to fully understand the Trinity, so we may never fully be able to fully understand election. The reformers insisted on applying logic to a concept where ‘God’s ways are higher than our ways, and His thoughts higher than our thoughts.’ (Is 55:9) We believe that it is not necessary to attempt to force an answer, as they did. We simply believe that these two seeming opposites, our free will and God’s enablement, can live side by side. (for further discussion also refer to post 4.2)

D) Corrupt Catholic Doctrine

Citation from https://carm.org/catholic/catholic-salvation-summary. (for further discussion also refer to post 4.2)

Summary of process of salvation in Roman Catholicism

What follows below is a sickening perversion of the gospel, as promoted by the Roman Church: (CCC references given…CCC= Catechism of the  Catholic Church, their official doctrines)

Salvation in Roman Catholicism is a continuous process.

To begin, God grants actual grace to a person which enables him to believe in Christ (CCC 2000) and also believe in the truth of the Catholic Church (CCC 1814).  After belief, the person must be baptized, which is necessary for salvation (CCC 1257).  This baptism erases original sin (CCC 405), unites the person with Christ (CCC 977), infuses grace into the person (CCC 1999), and grants justification (CCC 1992, 2020).

After baptism, he is saved.  But, ….

“To maintain his salvation, it is necessary for him to perform good works (CCC 2010, 2068, 2080) and participate in the sacraments (CCC 1129) which provide grace that is “proper to each sacrament” (CCC 1129, 2003).  This is necessary in order to maintain infused grace (CCC 987, 1468).  However, grace can be lessened by venial sins or completely lost by mortal sins.  Venial sins (CCC 1862) remove part of the infused grace but not the saving grace known as sanctifying grace (CCC 1863). To remedy the problem of venial sins, the Catholic is to take the Eucharist which the Church teaches forgives venial sins (CCC 1416).  He must also perform various penance which must be done in concert with perfect contrition (CCC 1452). But there is a problem.  Sins require punishment.  Even though sins are absolved by a priest (CCC 1463, 1495) the punishment due to a person because of his sin can remain.  To deal with that remaining punishment, indulgences are administered to deal with the punishment due to the guilt of the sins already forgiven (CCC 1471, 1498).  These indulgences draw upon the “good works of the Blessed Virgin Mary” (CCC 1477) and “of Christ and the saints” so as to obtain “the remission of the temporal punishment due for their sins” (CCC 1478).  Furthermore, the indulgences can be applied to themselves or the dead (CCC 1471) who are in purgatory (CCC 1498).  Now, in case the Catholic has committed a mortal sin, then all his ‘infused grace’ is lost.  To regain this grace, he must partake of special penance (CCC 980) since it helps restore grace that was lost (CCC 1468, 1496).  To conclude, the Roman Catholic must have faith, participate in the sacraments, take the Eucharist, keep the commandments, perform penance, and do indulgences in order to attain, maintain, and regain his salvation as well as reduce the punishment due to him for the sins of which he has already forgiven.”

Refer to the visual representation of salvation (Catholic slide) representing the above: 190513 OSAS ppoint. Also RC heresy list for the historical introduction of these doctrines.

Referenced from:(CCC references)

• CCC 405 – Although it is proper to each individual, original sin does not have the character of a personal fault in any of Adam’s descendants. It is a deprivation of original holiness and justice, but human nature has not been totally corrupted: it is wounded in the natural powers proper to it, subject to ignorance, suffering and the dominion of death, and inclined to sin – an inclination to evil that is called concupiscence”. Baptism, by imparting the life of Christ’s grace, erases original sin and turns a man back towards God, but the consequences for nature, weakened and inclined to evil, persist in man and summon him to spiritual battle.
• 977 – Our Lord tied the forgiveness of sins to faith and Baptism: “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation. He who believes and is baptized will be saved.” Baptism is the first and chief sacrament of forgiveness of sins because it unites us with Christ, who died for our sins and rose for our justification, so that “we too might walk in newness of life.”
• 980 – It is through the sacrament of Penance that the baptized can be reconciled with God and with the Church: Penance has rightly been called by the holy Fathers “a laborious kind of baptism.” This sacrament of Penance is necessary for salvation for those who have fallen after Baptism, just as Baptism is necessary for salvation for those who have not yet been reborn.
• 987 – “In the forgiveness of sins, both priests and sacraments are instruments which our Lord Jesus Christ, the only author and liberal giver of salvation, wills to use in order to efface our sins and give us the grace of justification” (Roman Catechism, I, 11, 6).
• 1129 – The Church affirms that for believers the sacraments of the New Covenant are necessary for salvation. “Sacramental grace” is the grace of the Holy Spirit, given by Christ and proper to each sacrament. The Spirit heals and transforms those who receive him by conforming them to the Son of God. The fruit of the sacramental life is that the Spirit of adoption makes the faithful partakers in the divine nature by uniting them in a living union with the only Son, the Savior.
• 1257 – The Lord himself affirms that Baptism is necessary for salvation. He also commands his disciples to proclaim the Gospel to all nations and to baptize them. Baptism is necessary for salvation for those to whom the Gospel has been proclaimed and who have had the possibility of asking for this sacrament. The Church does not know of any means other than Baptism that assures entry into eternal beatitude; this is why she takes care not to neglect the mission she has received from the Lord to see that all who can be baptized are “reborn of water and the Spirit.” God has bound salvation to the sacrament of Baptism, but he himself is not bound by his sacraments.
• 1416 – Communion with the Body and Blood of Christ increases the communicant’s union with the Lord, forgives his venial sins, and preserves him from grave sins. Since receiving this sacrament strengthens the bonds of charity between the communicant and Christ, it also reinforces the unity of the Church as the Mystical Body of Christ.
• 1452 – When it arises from a love by which God is loved above all else, contrition is called “perfect” (contrition of charity). Such contrition remits venial sins; it also obtains forgiveness of mortal sins if it includes the firm resolution to have recourse to sacramental confession as soon as possible.
• 1463 – Certain particularly grave sins incur excommunication, the most severe ecclesiastical penalty, which impedes the reception of the sacraments and the exercise of certain ecclesiastical acts, and for which absolution consequently cannot be granted, according to canon law, except by the Pope, the bishop of the place or priests authorized by them. In danger of death any priest, even if deprived of faculties for hearing confessions, can absolve from every sin and excommunication.
• 1468 – “The whole power of the sacrament of Penance consists in restoring us to God’s grace and joining us with him in an intimate friendship.” Reconciliation with God is thus the purpose and effect of this sacrament. For those who receive the sacrament of Penance with contrite heart and religious disposition, reconciliation “is usually followed by peace and serenity of conscience with strong spiritual consolation.” Indeed the sacrament of Reconciliation with God brings about a true “spiritual resurrection,” restoration of the dignity and blessings of the life of the children of God, of which the most precious is friendship with God.
• 1471 – The doctrine and practice of indulgences in the Church are closely linked to the effects of the sacrament of Penance. What is an indulgence? “An indulgence is a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven, which the faithful Christian who is duly disposed gains under certain prescribed conditions through the action of the Church which, as the minister of redemption, dispenses and applies with authority the treasury of the satisfactions of Christ and the saints.” “An indulgence is partial or plenary according as it removes either part or all of the temporal punishment due to sin.” The faithful can gain indulgences for themselves or apply them to the dead.
• 1477 – “This treasury includes as well the prayers and good works of the Blessed Virgin Mary. They are truly immense, unfathomable, and even pristine in their value before God. In the treasury, too, are the prayers and good works of all the saints, all those who have followed in the footsteps of Christ the Lord and by his grace have made their lives holy and carried out the mission in the unity of the Mystical Body.”
• 1478 – An indulgence is obtained through the Church who, by virtue of the power of binding and loosing granted her by Christ Jesus, intervenes in favor of individual Christians and opens for them the treasury of the merits of Christ and the saints to obtain from the Father of mercies the remission of the temporal punishments due for their sins. Thus the Church does not want simply to come to the aid of these Christians, but also to spur them to works of devotion, penance, and charity.
• 1495 – Only priests who have received the faculty of absolving from the authority of the Church can forgive sins in the name of Christ.
• 1496 – The spiritual effects of the sacrament of Penance are: – reconciliation with God by which the penitent recovers grace; – reconciliation with the Church; – remission of the eternal punishment incurred by mortal sins; – remission, at least in part, of temporal punishments resulting from sin; – peace and serenity of conscience, and spiritual consolation; – an increase of spiritual strength for the Christian battle.
• 1498 – Through indulgences the faithful can obtain the remission of temporal punishment resulting from sin for themselves and also for the souls in Purgatory.
• 1814 – Faith is the theological virtue by which we believe in God and believe all that he has said and revealed to us, and that Holy Church proposes for our belief, because he is truth itself. By faith “man freely commits his entire self to God.” For this reason the believer seeks to know and do God’s will. “The righteous shall live by faith.” Living faith “work[s] through charity.”
• 1862 – One commits venial sin when, in a less serious matter, he does not observe the standard prescribed by the moral law, or when he disobeys the moral law in a grave matter, but without full knowledge or without complete consent.
• 1863 – Venial sin weakens charity; it manifests a disordered affection for created goods; it impedes the soul’s progress in the exercise of the virtues and the practice of the moral good; it merits temporal punishment. Deliberate and unrepented venial sin disposes us little by little to commit mortal sin. However venial sin does not break the covenant with God. With God’s grace it is humanly reparable. “Venial sin does not deprive the sinner of sanctifying grace, friendship with God, charity, and consequently eternal happiness.” While he is in the flesh, man cannot help but have at least some light sins. But do not despise these sins which we call “light”: if you take them for light when you weigh them, tremble when you count them. A number of light objects makes a great mass; a number of drops fills a river; a number of grains makes a heap. What then is our hope? Above all, confession.
• 1992 – Justification has been merited for us by the Passion of Christ who offered himself on the cross as a living victim, holy and pleasing to God, and whose blood has become the instrument of atonement for the sins of all men. Justification is conferred in Baptism, the sacrament of faith. It conforms us to the righteousness of God, who makes us inwardly just by the power of his mercy. Its purpose is the glory of God and of Christ, and the gift of eternal life: But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, they are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as an expiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins; it was to prove at the present time that he himself is righteous and that he justifies him who has faith in Jesus.
• 1999 – The grace of Christ is the gratuitous gift that God makes to us of his own life, infused by the Holy Spirit into our soul to heal it of sin and to sanctify it. It is the sanctifying or deifying grace received in Baptism. It is in us the source of the work of sanctification: Therefore if any one is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself.
• 2000 – Sanctifying grace is an habitual gift, a stable and supernatural disposition that perfects the soul itself to enable it to live with God, to act by his love. Habitual grace, the permanent disposition to live and act in keeping with God’s call, is distinguished from ‘actual graces’ which refer to God’s interventions, whether at the beginning of conversion or in the course of the work of sanctification.
• 2003 – Grace is first and foremost the gift of the Spirit who justifies and sanctifies us. But grace also includes the gifts that the Spirit grants us to associate us with his work, to enable us to collaborate in the salvation of others and in the growth of the Body of Christ, the Church. There are sacramental graces, gifts proper to the different sacraments. There are furthermore special graces, also called charisms after the Greek term used by St. Paul and meaning “favor,” “gratuitous gift,” “benefit.” Whatever their character – sometimes it is extraordinary, such as the gift of miracles or of tongues – charisms are oriented toward sanctifying grace and are intended for the common good of the Church. They are at the service of charity which builds up the Church.
• 2010 – Since the initiative belongs to God in the order of grace, no one can merit the initial grace of forgiveness and justification, at the beginning of conversion. Moved by the Holy Spirit and by charity, we can then merit for ourselves and for others the graces needed for our sanctification, for the increase of grace and charity, and for the attainment of eternal life. Even temporal goods like health and friendship can be merited in accordance with God’s wisdom. These graces and goods are the object of Christian prayer. Prayer attends to the grace we need for meritorious actions.
• 2020 – Justification has been merited for us by the Passion of Christ. It is granted us through Baptism. It conforms us to the righteousness of God, who justifies us. It has for its goal the glory of God and of Christ, and the gift of eternal life. It is the most excellent work of God’s mercy.
• 2068 – The Council of Trent teaches that the Ten Commandments are obligatory for Christians and that the justified man is still bound to keep them; the Second Vatican Council confirms: “The bishops, successors of the apostles, receive from the Lord . . . the mission of teaching all peoples, and of preaching the Gospel to every creature, so that all men may attain salvation through faith, Baptism and the observance of the Commandments.”
• 2080  – The Decalogue contains a privileged expression of the natural law. It is made known to us by divine revelation and by human reason.

 

 

D) Sermon on our eternal security of being in God’s family, being a child of God.

The remaining paragraphs of this post contain a reformatted excerpt of a Steven Andersen sermon: (details at the end of this post).

In addition, for:

• A very detailed O.S.A.S. (once saved always saved) bible study refer to the following PDF: why-a-born-again-person-cannot-lose-salvation
• A short visual representation of security of salvation, view the link 190513 OSAS ppoint. 
• For an additional ‘Questions and Answers Bible Study’ on ‘Once saved always saved’ refer to Salvation and our eternal security.

Eternal means Ever-lasting

Jesus says that you can know you have eternal life. Before I get into all the multitude of scriptures that teach you this, let’s just look at the word eternal. That says everything right there. Eternal means never ending. It comes from a root word terminate. The E at the beginning is a negating prefix, and so eternal means not terminated, has no ending. It has a synonym in the bible: everlasting. So let me ask you this: if I have life today that never ends, if I have today on February 23rd, eternal life and down the road at some point I were to lose it, was it ever eternal? No, because it ended. So if I have eternal life today; that means it can never end, because by definition, that’s what eternal life even is. Otherwise it would make no sense.

John in verse 13 above states: ‘These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.” When John says “have eternal life’, he didn’t say had, in the past tense, as if you lost it. John also didn’t say will get you eternal life, as if you needed to wait till heaven to find out. You “have eternal life’ now.

Jesus also said in John 6:47 “verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believes on me has everlasting life.” again present tense, that you have it right now, if you believe on Christ, meaning that it is going to last forever. You can’t lose it!

Sealed

Let’s go to 2 Corinthians, because being sealed is another great teaching, being sealed with the Holy Spirit. Besides all the confirmation we will see in the book of John about salvation:

• besides the meaning of the words ‘everlasting, eternal life’,
• besides the idea that he will never leave us nor forsake us, and keep us,
• besides that the ‘will of the Father’ is that we don’t do works but simply believe on Jesus,
• besides the knowledge that we shall never hunger or never thirst again. Never look anywhere else for our spiritual sustenance again.

Besides all that, there is also the doctrine in the new testament that we are sealed with the holy spirit until the day of redemption. Now in second Corinthians it says:

“Who has also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.” (2 Cor 1:22)

The bible says when we are saved, God seals us and gives us the earnest of the spirit in our hearts. Now what is the earnest? Earnest means serious. If I say something to you in earnest, it means that I was being serious. So when the bible says here God has given us the earnest of the spirit in our hearts, using earnest as a noun, it is a down payment, a deposit.

For example, let’s say there is a house for sale and I am going to put an offer on that house, let’s say a hundred and forty thousand. And just to show you that I am serious, I am going to put down a thousand in earnest money. Anyone who has bought a house has heard of earnest money, and you say ‘I am going to put down a thousand dollars as earnest money just to show that I am not playing games, I’m serious’. It’s a down payment. What God is saying is that he sealed us, and he gave us the earnest of the holy spirit, showing that we’re saved, showing that we will have eternal life, showing that we’re going to go to heaven and be with him eternally. He gives us that down payment of the spirit. Ephesians 1 confirms:

Eph 1:13} In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, {1:14} Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

Soul and spirit saved, the flesh not.

Now the reason that the spirit is called the earnest,or the down payment, is because we are not fully redeemed when we get saved, because our body has not been redeemed. Now our soul and spirit have already been saved, but has our body been saved? I mean, did your body transform the moment you believed on Christ? Anything change about your body? Did it become perfect? Did it become righteous? No, your flesh is the same, but at the resurrection, at what’s called the rapture, the bible says” in a moment in a twinkling of an eye we will be changed”, and the bible says that we are waiting for that day, tells us to wait the redemption of our body. The bible calls the rapture the ‘redemption of our body’.

So we haven’t got the whole package of salvation yet, we have not experienced all the benefits of salvation yet, but we have the earnest of the spirit. The full benefit of our salvation will be when we get rid of this flesh, and we have a brand new glorified body, and we are in heaven with Christ. Then we will have the full benefit of salvation at that time. Until then we have the earnest of the spirit in our heart, showing that God is serious, showing that God is going to do what he said. The bible said he begun a good work in you, will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. The day of Christ is another name for the rapture (in this context. Refer to post 7.0). The Lord is coming in the clouds.

Doing the will of my Father (John 6)

Now turn to Matthew chapter seven:

“Not every one that says unto me Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven: but he that does the will of my father which is in heaven” (Matt 7:21). Lets now  go to John chapter six, let’s see what the will of the father is. Its God’s will that matters in regard to salvation, not man’s will. What does it say here in John 6v39?

“And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day..”  Now watch another aspect of the father’s will in verse 40:

”And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which sees the Son, and believes on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day”.

So what’s the will of the father? That people will see the Lord Jesus Christ, believe on him and be raised up at the last day. What is the will of the father according to verse 39 and 40? That people would believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and that none of them would be lost, none of them would ever lose their salvation and that they would be raised up at the last day. Now look you can not lose your salvation; he said in verse 37 “him that comes to me I will in no wise cast out”. Once you have been saved you have passed from death to life.

“All that the father give unto me shall come to me and him that comes to me, I will in no wise cast out.” He says: “You guys have to believe, and the one that “comes to me I will in no wise cast out.”  Another great verse showing that we cannot lose our salvation.

Verse 38: ‘For I come down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.” and this is the father’s will, because remember in Matthew seven he said you have to do the will of the father? What does it mean to do someone’s will? To do what they want, that’s a perfect definition.  If I said to my son I want you to do my will, that means you’re going to do what I want, we are going to do it my way. So look, if you get into heaven you’re not getting there man’s way, your getting there God’s way. That’s why it says in John 1:12

“But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.“

Never Thirsting

Coincidentally, in John chapter six there is another great passage that shows that you can’t lose your salvation. Now look what it says in John 6:35 “ Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that comes to me shall never hunger”. Never.

You come to Jesus Christ, you eat of the bread of life that he gives you, and he says “ you shall never hunger and he that believes on me shall never thirst.” It’s the same thing that he said to the women at the well in chapter four when he said “ if you drink of this water you will thirst again, if you drink of the water I give you, it’ll be a well water springing up inside of you unto everlasting life, you’ll never thirst again.” Notice that salvation is a one time thing! Jesus states categorically that once we have received His life-giving words, we’ll never thirst, look anywhere else, for our spiritual sustenance again. We are satisfied, we’ve found the source of the refreshing, life-giving wellspring! We’ve found our saviour. Our search for purpose and meaning of life is over, we patiently work with God to renew us through His word.

God knows the future.

Go to chapter five, flip back one page in John. So, doing the will of the father which is in heaven is not just saying that in every area of life, you are always doing God’s will, all the time keeping every commandment. You know, if  keeping every commandment was that saves us, none of us would be saved. Not one, because there is “not a just man upon the earth that does good and sins not”. “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God”. As it is written “there is none righteous no not one“. No one will be justified by the works of the law. No one will be justified by keeping the commandments, but it says in John 5:24a:

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that hears my word, and believes on him that sent me, has everlasting life,”

Again present tense, that means it’s going to last forever. And if it doesn’t last forever, that means you never had everlasting life.

Someone that believes I can lose my salvation after receiving it, and thus loosing ‘everlasting’ life, is saying, in effect:

• Even though I agree God knows God knows everything, He knows the future,
• Even though I agree God knows how my life is going to go, “he knows the end from the beginning”.
• Even though I agree that Jesus said:”He that believes on me, has everlasting life”, present tense, meaning I have it now.

I still think that:

• If I stop believing I will loose my everlasting life.
• I think my everlasting life would have lasted for a while only.
• I still think that it’s possible that I might have everlasting life today but might lose it tomorrow, if I stop believing.
• That means my everlasting life could only last one day.
• That means my free gift of everlasting life didn’t last forever.
• I think that, even though God knew I’m going to loose my everlasting life, He says its everlasting anyways,
• I think that even though He knows in advance that I’m going to lose it, He still gives me the gift and calls it eternal”

It makes no sense for someone to think like that.

Saying “Lord, Lord”

Lets look at Matthew 7:21 again where it says:

“Not every one that saith unto me Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven: but he that does the will of my father which is in heaven”

We have seen already what the will of the father is: That people will see the Lord Jesus Christ, believe on him and be raised up at the last day. But let me start out by saying this: If you say: “Lord, lord”, this doesn’t get you into heaven. If saying “Lord, Lord” were enough then this verse would not be true. Is saying Lord to God enough to get you into heaven? No. You have to do the will of the father which is in heaven, which I have shown what that is, but look what he says next:

“Many will say to me in that day Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you; depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

Now let me point out first of all that he didn’t say I used to know you, not if you could lose your salvation, if these people have once been saved and then lost their salvation, could he really say to them “I never knew you”, if he used to know them? No. So this right here shows that these people who think they are saved but really aren’t, are not people that lost their salvation. No, that’s not possible. Rather, it’s people who are trusting in… what’s the last word of verse 22?… “WORKS“.

To people who are trusting in their works Jesus says: “ I never knew you” not “I used to know you”, because you can’t lose it. They never had salvation in the first place, Now look, if you were to stand before God right now and God were to ask you: “why should I let you into heaven?”, would you say I have done many wonderful works? Absolutely not, no bible believing Christian, no one that understands salvation is by grace through faith would ever say “but God, how can you not be letting me in when I have done so many wonderful works?”. The only person who would say such a thing is one that thinks their works has something to do with getting them into heaven.

Look what their listing: We prophesied in your name, we preached in it, we’ve done wonderful works in it, we have cast out devils in your name. Look are these people claiming the name of Jesus? Yeah. Have they called Jesus Lord? Yeah. Are they doing a lot of wonderful works in Jesus name? Yeah. So why in the world are they cast out? Why are they not allowed into heaven? Because anyone who trusts in their works is not saved. The bible says “it’s not of works lest any man should boast”. Boasting like what? Boasting like “I have done many wonderful works”. I have done many wonderful works, I have prophesied in your name and cast out devils, of course they are going to let me in.

No flesh shall glory in his presence. Jesus paid it all, all to him we owe. Sin has left a crimson stain, he washed us white as snow. We have nothing to boast of, salvation is grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The bible is teaching us crystal clear in this passage that if you go to hell, he never knew you, and if you are trusting in your works, even if you are saying “I believe in Jesus, I’m doing it in the name of Jesus” but you say I am going to heaven because of my works, you’re not saved. That’s what the bible teaches.

No ‘used-to-believe’ category with God.

Go back to chapter 3 because in chapter 3 we find a very powerful scripture. That kind of ties in with when Jesus said, “I never knew you.” Look at John 3:18 here is another verse that proves you can’t lose your salvation. John 3:18 says “He that believes on him (talking about Jesus Christ) is not condemned: but he that believes not is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” Notice the past tense, he has not believed on the only begotten Son of God. There are two kinds of people in this world those who believe and those who do not believe. Notice what he says about those that do not believe, thou has not believed, they never believed (there is no ‘used-to-believe’ category with God). Once you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ you are saved, you are a believer. You are sealed with the holy Ghost you cannot lose your salvation. If you could lose your salvation, verse 18 wouldn’t make any sense, to have put it into two categories like that:

• you have either not believed it, or
• you are still believing it

Now let’s think about it, and let’s say you can lose your salvation right, and let’s say a guy believed on Christ and then down the road he stops believing, he loses his salvation, whatever you want to call it. Well then, he wouldn’t fall into any of these categories. You could not say he never believed, because he did back then. See how this doesn’t make any sense? Because it is not true, because once you believe you are saved, you’re sealed, and you’re secure.

In the Father’s hand

But let’s flip over to John 10. We saw many back to back powerful evidences in John chapter 6 that you can’t lose your salvation. In just in the space of a couple verses. We saw chapter 5 verse 24, the verse that was shown me when I got saved as a six year old boy. We saw John 3:18 another powerful verse that shows, you have either not believed it or you are still believing it and you’re still saved, and you still have everlasting life. The we seen John 10:28

“And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. “

He says you’re in Jesus Christ’s hand and you’re in the father’s hand and nobody is going to pluck you out of that hand. Now flip over to chapter 11, one time I had somebody say this to me. I was out soul winning and I was preaching eternal life to someone, and they said this to me: “Well it’s like this, you’re holding his hand and he’s holding your hand. He is never going to let go of you, but you can let go of him”. This is what they thought. Okay, to illustrate, so come up here John, come on up here for a second John. Let’s see if this holds, let’s see if this holds water okay. So let’s use this illustration that I was given by somebody who believes you can lose your salvation. Okay so let’s go here, I am holding his hand, and I am never going to let go of his hand, but he can let go of my hand okay. So go ahead, John, let go of my hand John, go ahead and let go son, let go. Go back to your seat son, let go. Remember you can let go, I’m not going to let go. But he can let go, he can let go anytime he wants to. Right? Right? So you get the point right?

If I don’t let go, it doesn’t matter if he lets go, he can hold on as tight as he wants, he can let go, he can try to pull it out but guess what? I’m stronger then him and that’s why he could not go. The bible says “my father which gave to me is greater than all”. God is stronger than you, so if you were to have this hypothetical tug-a-war with God, like “let me go, let me go”, He is not going to let go because he said no one can pluck you out of his hand. Because his hand is so strong, you can’t get out.

‘Shall never die’ means ‘eternal’.

Go to John 11 there verse 25 it says:

“Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever lives and believes in me shall never die”

Now this is a powerful verse to correct those who try to twist the definition of eternal life, some people will say: “well eternal life it doesn’t mean it goes on forever, it’s just talking about the quality of your life”. “You know it’s a type of life, a style of life, you know, it’s a quality of life”. Okay, what about never dying? Because eternal life is equated with never dying, which proves it, to which some people will say ”if you go back into the Greek and you look at the word eternal it’s aionion you know like “eon”. Because, someone will say something happened eons ago and then say “eon” just means’ a really long time’.” So is that’s what Jesus went around preaching, you’re going to live for a really long time, if you believe on me you’re going to live for a long time? But what about people that would lose it? According to these people they could lose it a week later, two weeks later, six months later. Now is that an eon? Now does anyone know long is an eon? I don’t know, I don’t think anyone. But what I am saying is that doesn’t make any sense, but this whole thing of going to a foreign language, how do you dispute that, unless you knew Greek, and how many people in here are fluent in Greek? You know, so basically people throw that at you:, “Well if you go back to the Greek, you know it’s aionion, and that’s like eon, and that’s like blah blah”. You don’t know whether that’s really true. You know what I think that Greek word means? Eternal. And you how I can prove that’s what it means? Because Jesus compared it to never die. So if he puts on this side live forever, everlasting life, eternal life, and over here he said never die. I think you get the picture. Those are both the same thing, shall not perish but have everlasting life, this makes perfect sense. Here he says “ whosoever lives and believes in me”. So if you’re here and ‘you live and you believe’, then you will never die. That is what the bible teaches.

Our Hope of eternal life

Look if you would at Ephesians 1 there, it says in verse twelve

“That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. “

Now what does it mean to trust in Christ? That’s putting our faith in Christ, that’s believing on Christ, as said in the next verse:

“In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.”

There is so much packed into these verse here first of all it helps to define what it means to believe on Christ, to trust Christ, to put our faith in Christ, to believe he is the one who is going to save us, not trusting in our works but trusting in Christ but he says here that the holy spirit of promise.

What promise? The bible says in hope of eternal life which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began. Still not convinced? Go to first John 2:25 “And this is the promise that he has promised us, even eternal life” The bible says the promise of God is eternal life, the promise of God is eternal redemption in glory. The bible says you are sealed unto the holy spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance.

So do we have more coming? Absolutely, I mean the inheritance going to be huge, he that overcomes shall inherit all things the bible says. ‘I will be to him a father and he shall be to me a son’. We will inherit all things, we are joint heirs with Jesus Christ, we will inherit the kingdom of God . We will be redeemed in the body, we will receive a glorified body.

And does the bible say here that the holy spirit is the earnest of our inheritance until we ‘mess up’, until we sin, until we lose faith, until we let go, until we walk away, until we ‘lose our salvation’? No! It says until ‘the redemption of the purchased possession’ because he which “has begun a good work in you, will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ”.

It’s not that he might preform it, he might back out, he might break his promise, he might put down the earnest of money and say:” No, I changed my mind? No. He is serious, he has made a promise, he will redeem us body, soul and spirit. We will inherit all things and just to guarantee that, we will inherit, just to guarantee that we will be saved, just to guarantee, we will inherit eternal life; and he won’t break his promise! He gave us that down payment, he gave us the earnest of the spirit and he sealed us unto the day of redemption.

Go to chapter 4 verse 30“ And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. The same book, the same word ‘sealed’ we just saw in Ephesians 1. When he says “and grieve not the holy spirit of God“… or else you’ll lose your salvation, is that what he said? No, because there is no verse in the bible like that Instead he said: “ And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. “ so even if you do grieve the holy spirit of God you’re still sealed unto the day of redemption. Don’t do it! Don’t grieve him, but you’re sealed, you’re sealed unto the day of redemption.

Him that works not

Go to Romans chapter number four. ““but to him that works not but believes on him that justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness”.

I mean there is so much scripture on this, so much. We have just covered:

The fact that it is eternal life, the fact that it is everlasting,  the fact that we shall never die, the fact that ‘he never knew’ those who weren’t saved, the fact that those who do not believe, have not believed. Then just to go over the fact that we are sealed by the holy spirit of promise unto the day of redemption, which is the earnest of our salvation, then just to go over the fact that we have been passed from death unto life and we shall never come into condemnation .

Now another aspect of eternal life, another aspect of once saved always saved: Romans four teaches that our sins after we are saved are not even imputed unto us, after we are saved the sins we commit are not reckoned unto our account! Look at Romans 4:5 “But to him that works not,” did you get that?

“but to him that works not but believes on him that justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness””

This says you work not and believe, so there are people that believe but do not have the works. So some say “Well, if you have faith you’ll always have works, the two go, you can’t have one without the other; okay, well what about faith without works is dead?

“Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead..”James 2:17a

If I am saved that means I have faith in Christ. Now what if I don’t have any works today? What does James say about my faith? It’s dead. I mean can I really say to you, let’s say I did no works for the past week, no works I have just been living in the flesh, I have just been doing the ways of the world and I haven’t been following God this week, and I just didn’t go to church and I just didn’t read my bible, didn’t pray I have just been living a worldly life this week. Do I have works? No, then you could say my faith is dead. But does that mean I have lost my salvation? No it doesn’t, it just means my faith will not profit anyone else. My faith is all talk unless I have the works to back it up. What does that mean? We’re not talking about getting into heaven, but talking about my relationship with my fellow man. Because that’s why the bible says:” no man will be justified by works in the sight of God”. But are we justified by works in the sight of man? Of course! Because can man see my faith? No, man can only see my works, man cannot see my faith.

Remember James chapter two is talking to those that are saved, he is talking to people that are believers, not unbelievers. Why? James says “my brethren” in verse 1, and then he continues to talk to believers:

My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus,Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment; (James 2:1,2)

So in the sight of man we are justified by works, that’s what James two is talking about,,,, and that’s why it talks about Abraham being justified by works when he offered his son unto the altar at a hundred and thirty years old. Are you going to tell me Abraham got saved (justified) when he was 130? No he got saved long before that. However, he showed his faith to the world in Genesis 22, when he was willing to sacrifice Isaac, his son, upon the altar. That was an amazing testament of his faith unto men.

Righteousness without works

That’s why the bible says in verse three chapter four, look at Romans 4:2, “For if Abraham were justified by works, he has whereof to glory; but not before God” so Abraham was justified by works but not before God. Look at verse five “But to him that worketh not, but believes on him that justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness”. Even as David also describes the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputes righteousness without works, Saying,

Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.”

Now what do we see in that? We see the past and the future. I mean think about it: A lot of people will say: When you get saved, all the past sins, those are all forgiven, but going forward you’re responsible for those sins and you need to keep on getting forgiveness. You got to keep on getting salvation, you got to keep on getting redemption.

There are people who think you have to ask for forgiveness every day to stay saved. I mean, I have talked to them all the time out soul winning; Catholics and even a lot of Protestants will tell you that you have to ask for forgiveness of your sins every day, or you are not going to be saved. But what does the bible say here? It says the past is covered in verse seven: “Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven”, and that’s past tense, “whose sins are covered.” That’s a past tense verb.

It also says “Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin” that’s the future. So me, today, Steven.L.Anderson, my sins are covered and forgiven and he is not going to impute sin unto me going forward. I mean isn’t that what the bible says: he saves us from our sins past, present and future.

Otherwise I guess it would be best option to get saved right at the end of your life, right on your deathbed. That’s what a lot of Catholics do. Catholicism teaches that, they just think: ‘You know what? I want to live it up, I want to be wild, I want to party, I want to sow my wild oats, and then when I get older I am going to go ahead and get it all forgiven and get it all absolved, go to mass every day’. ‘You know, I am too old to party anyways at that point, so I might as well get up and go to mass every morning and get this all absolved’. They are going to split hell wide open because they have not trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior. They are trusting in works, they are trusting in religion, they are trusting in the church, instead of trusting in the Lord.

Jesus makes intercession for us.

Look its clear, how can I lose my salvation if God’s not even going to impute my sins unto me according to Romans 4:8? Flip over to chapter 8 of Romans. Look what it says in Romans 8:33 “Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifies.” Now God’s not going to lay anything to our charge, man can’t lay anything to our charge, are sins are not imputed unto us. “Who is he that condemns?” Remember the verse that says we shall not come into condemnation? We have ‘passed from death unto life’? “Who is he that condemns? “It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.” So what Christ did for us is not just past tense. Yes, he died, yes he was buried, yes he rose again but he also ever lives to make intercession for us, to make sure we shall not be condemned, to make sure no one can lay anything to our charge, to make sure sin will not be imputed unto us spiritually going forward, it says he makes intercession for us.

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Sons of God

Lets look at Psalm 89; I have already mentioned earlier in John 1:12

“as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: “

So how do we become a son of God? By believing on the name Jesus Christ. Now is everyone a son of God? No, because he said we become a son of God when we believe on Christ, so if we become a son of God, that means we weren’t one in the past. We become a son of God when we believe in Christ. So when the Mormons tell you that’s were all God’s children, that just isn’t true because we become sons when we believe in Christ, also it says in Galatians chapter 3 verse number 26 it says “ For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus” So were children by faith.

Look at what the bible says in Psalm 89 about the children of God. It says in Psalm 89 verse 20 “I have found David my servant; with my holy oil have I anointed him:” Now David in the old testament is a symbolic, a lot of times, of the Lord Jesus Christ, because Jesus Christ is known as the son of David and a lot of times he will call Jesus Christ prophetically “David my servant”. Now this passage does have a literal application to David himself but also has a spiritual application towards the Lord Jesus Christ.

Look down at verse 29 I’ll show you what I mean, this is talking about David, “His seed also will I make to endure forever, and his throne as the days of heaven.” But if we were to apply this to the Lord Jesus Christ read this passage:

“His seed also will I make to endure forever, and his throne as the days of heaven. If his children forsake my law and walk not in my judgments; If they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments; Then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes. Nevertheless, my lovingkindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail. My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips. Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David. His seed shall endure forever, and his throne as the sun before me. It shall be established for ever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven. Selah

Now there is an application there to David physically, however, is David really going to rule for all eternity on the throne? Or is it going to be Jesus Christ, who’s going to sit on the throne of his father David ruling and reigning?

The bible says in Isaiah 53 which is a prophetic passage about the Lord Jesus Christ, that he shall see his seed, that Jesus would see his seed and be glad, Jesus Christ did not have physical children while he was on this earth, despite what Hollywood will tell you. Jesus Christ seed is a spiritual seed, all those who believe on him become his sons and the bible tells us here that his seed if they disobey his commandments what does it says he is going to do look at verse 31 “If they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments;” they are going to lose their salvation, they’re going to go to hell, I’m not going to love them anymore, is that what it says? He says:

“I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes. Nevertheless, my lovingkindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail. My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips”

God’s not going to break his promise, God’s not going to break his covenant, God’s not going to change what he said, he is not going to alter the thing which came out of his lips. He will punish us but he will not stop loving us and he will not send us to hell. Many people think  “If you can’t lose your salvation you might as well go out and live a wicked life”, and they say that is what are you saying are you? Are you saying there is just no consequences, you can go out and live a wicked life? Just do whatever you want? Just do whatever? But hold on a second what about this life? So you sit there and say ‘I’m saved I can just go out and do whatever I want and I am still going to heaven’?

Free to sin?

Prov 3:11} My son, despise not the chastening of the LORD; neither be weary of his correction: {3:12} For whom the LORD loveth he corrects; even as a father the son in whom he delights.

Yeah true, you will still be going to heaven, but you are going to be chastened (Proverbs 3:11-12), disciplined and may even be destroyed in this life. Now is anyone just okay with that? Is there anyone here that would say I am okay with just living a horrible miserable life and losing everything and being severely punished by God, every time I turn around being cursed and everything I do as long as I make it to heaven I am okay with that. No because we also want to be blessed in this life, don’t we, I mean do you want God to curse you and punish you and be, that would be like if my children said:” oh wait a minute, so you mean to tell me no matter how much I misbehave, mom and dad, you’re still going to be my parents and you’re still going to feed me and I still get to sleep in my bed at night?” Oh cool, I am just going to go out and just break every rule, I am never going to obey you.

You know what’s going to happen, they’re going to get spanked and they’re going to get spanked and they’re going to get spanked and they’re going to be miserable and they are never going to get to do anything fun. They’re going to miss out on all the fun things and they’re just going to keep getting punished and you know what that’s how it is in your life if you disregard God’s word after you’re saved.

Now if you are not saved you might be able to have a good time and get away with it, but you’ll be in hell in the end which is worse. But if you are saved, you can’t get away with sin. If you are saved, doesn’t he chasten most of his children, ‘he scourges every son whom he receives’. So listen to me young people, if you say I’m saved, I’m going to heaven, I am just going to forget God’s commandments, you will be destroyed. God can destroy your life any time he wants to, God can cause you to be fired from your job anytime he wants to, God can infect you with disease anytime, it is what he said he would do.

If you go back to Deuteronomy 27-28 when he goes through all the blessings and curses. He says look I’ll curse you when you go out and I’ll curse you when you’re on your way home and I’ll curse your job, I’ll curse your wife, I’ll curse your children, I’ll curse everything that you do. You will fail, you will be filled with disease, you’ll lose your money. Look, God will punish his children, no question about that, if we just completely disregard his word. So there are plenty of reasons to obey God’s commandments, even though escaping hell is not one of them. Plenty of reasons to obey God’s commandments, we want God, first of all we just love him. Firstly, if we love God, let’s keep his commandments, we should keep his commandments because we want to, not because we are being forced to. Number two, we want God to bless us. Number three, we don’t want God to punish us. Number four, we love our fellow man and we know we are going to get more people saved if we live for God then if we live for the world. Because we love others we want to get them saved.

C) OSAS: Comment on the Reformed understanding.

esus

At the synod of Dordrecht in the Netherlands, approximately 80 years after Luther’s first challenge to the catholic church, various questions regarding salvation were addressed. The reformation had spread throughout Europe, and bible teaching on various questions regarding salvation needed to be clarified, in particular predestination. To gain a good understanding of the thinking at the time, refer to the link  http://www.apuritansmind.com/creeds-and-confessions/the-synod-of-dordt-1618-1619-a-d/.

It may be clearly seen that, as the reformation spread, an intellectual component was added to the reformation. Jesus warned:

Cor 2 11:3} But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ {11:4} For if he that came preaches another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.

 The later reformation leaders unfortunately dismissed this warning, and these leaders started preaching ‘another gospel’, the predestination gospel. This is not a good news gospel. 

These later reformers firstly attempted to address the apparent conflict between man’s choice and God’s foreknowledge. The Old Testament affirms that it is our responsibility to choose. God repeatedly pleads with his people to choose, to follow His ways and commandments. In Deut. 30 God says through Moses:

{30:19} I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:

We have a choice. That is very clear from the Old Testament. The later reformers like Calvin ignored this.  The reformers insisted on applying logic to a concept where ‘God’s ways are higher than our ways, and His thoughts higher than our thoughts.’ (Is 55:9) We believe that it is not necessary to attempt to force an answer, as they did. We simply believe that these two seeming opposites, our free will and God’s enablement, can live side by side.

Refer to the Link Choice and Calvin for the scriptures used by Calvin to justify Calvinism’s ‘another gospel’. Like most deceptions, the first statement is often the biggest lie. If we swallow the first, the rest seems reasonable. This is where Calvin is in direct conflict with scripture, is his first point:”The total depravity of man”. That is simply not true. Men are not so utterly depraved that they chave no concept what is good and what is bad, what is pleasing to God and what is not. . Men like Josiah and Hezekiah exercised choice, and honored God in a paganised environment. In the Old Testament even some unsaved men are commended as good men. In the new testament Joseph of Arimathea is commended as a good man. If Jesus says to the crowd: “If you, who know how to give good gifts …”, clearly there is some good in man.

We will thus strongly disagree with the Calvinistic reformers about predestination. God offers salvation to all and wants all to be saved. Click on the link All men . The term ‘whosoever’ in John 3:16’s is clearly an invitation that is open to all.  Jesus has paid for the sin of the whole world. Jesus’s offer of eternal life is open to every person, and eternal life is given to whosoever receives it in faith, at the moment they believe in Jesus Christ. Yet, in some mysterious way, although it does seem asif were 100% required to trust and believe when we hear the gospel, it is at the same time God who helps us to do that. Ephesians 1:4 clearly states:

{1:3} Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: {1:4} According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we  should be holy and without blame before him in love: {1:5} Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will.” 

and Romans 8

8:29} For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. {8:30} Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.

Yes, in the same way that we are not able to fully understand the Trinity, so we may never fully be able to fully understand election. The reformers insisted on applying logic to a concept where ‘God’s ways are higher than our ways, and His thoughts higher than our thoughts.’ (Is 55:9) We believe that it is not necessary to attempt to force an answer, as they did. We simply believe that these two seeming opposites, our free will and God’s enablement, can live side by side. (for further discussion also refer to post 4.2)

D) Corrupt Catholic Doctrine

Citation from https://carm.org/catholic/catholic-salvation-summary. (for further discussion also refer to post 4.2)

Summary of process of salvation in Roman Catholicism

What follows below is a sickening perversion of the gospel, as promoted by the Roman Church: (CCC references given…CCC= Catechism of the  Catholic Church, their official doctrines)

Salvation in Roman Catholicism is a continuous process.

To begin, God grants actual grace to a person which enables him to believe in Christ (CCC 2000) and also believe in the truth of the Catholic Church (CCC 1814).  After belief, the person must be baptized, which is necessary for salvation (CCC 1257).  This baptism erases original sin (CCC 405), unites the person with Christ (CCC 977), infuses grace into the person (CCC 1999), and grants justification (CCC 1992, 2020).

After baptism, he is saved.  But, ….

“To maintain his salvation, it is necessary for him to perform good works (CCC 2010, 2068, 2080) and participate in the sacraments (CCC 1129) which provide grace that is “proper to each sacrament” (CCC 1129, 2003).  This is necessary in order to maintain infused grace (CCC 987, 1468).  However, grace can be lessened by venial sins or completely lost by mortal sins.  Venial sins (CCC 1862) remove part of the infused grace but not the saving grace known as sanctifying grace (CCC 1863). To remedy the problem of venial sins, the Catholic is to take the Eucharist which the Church teaches forgives venial sins (CCC 1416).  He must also perform various penance which must be done in concert with perfect contrition (CCC 1452). But there is a problem.  Sins require punishment.  Even though sins are absolved by a priest (CCC 1463, 1495) the punishment due to a person because of his sin can remain.  To deal with that remaining punishment, indulgences are administered to deal with the punishment due to the guilt of the sins already forgiven (CCC 1471, 1498).  These indulgences draw upon the “good works of the Blessed Virgin Mary” (CCC 1477) and “of Christ and the saints” so as to obtain “the remission of the temporal punishment due for their sins” (CCC 1478).  Furthermore, the indulgences can be applied to themselves or the dead (CCC 1471) who are in purgatory (CCC 1498).  Now, in case the Catholic has committed a mortal sin, then all his ‘infused grace’ is lost.  To regain this grace, he must partake of special penance (CCC 980) since it helps restore grace that was lost (CCC 1468, 1496).  To conclude, the Roman Catholic must have faith, participate in the sacraments, take the Eucharist, keep the commandments, perform penance, and do indulgences in order to attain, maintain, and regain his salvation as well as reduce the punishment due to him for the sins of which he has already forgiven.”

Refer to the visual representation of salvation (Catholic slide) representing the above: 190513 OSAS ppoint. Also RC heresy list for the historical introduction of these doctrines.

Referenced from:(CCC references)

• CCC 405 – Although it is proper to each individual, original sin does not have the character of a personal fault in any of Adam’s descendants. It is a deprivation of original holiness and justice, but human nature has not been totally corrupted: it is wounded in the natural powers proper to it, subject to ignorance, suffering and the dominion of death, and inclined to sin – an inclination to evil that is called concupiscence”. Baptism, by imparting the life of Christ’s grace, erases original sin and turns a man back towards God, but the consequences for nature, weakened and inclined to evil, persist in man and summon him to spiritual battle.
• 977 – Our Lord tied the forgiveness of sins to faith and Baptism: “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation. He who believes and is baptized will be saved.” Baptism is the first and chief sacrament of forgiveness of sins because it unites us with Christ, who died for our sins and rose for our justification, so that “we too might walk in newness of life.”
• 980 – It is through the sacrament of Penance that the baptized can be reconciled with God and with the Church: Penance has rightly been called by the holy Fathers “a laborious kind of baptism.” This sacrament of Penance is necessary for salvation for those who have fallen after Baptism, just as Baptism is necessary for salvation for those who have not yet been reborn.
• 987 – “In the forgiveness of sins, both priests and sacraments are instruments which our Lord Jesus Christ, the only author and liberal giver of salvation, wills to use in order to efface our sins and give us the grace of justification” (Roman Catechism, I, 11, 6).
• 1129 – The Church affirms that for believers the sacraments of the New Covenant are necessary for salvation. “Sacramental grace” is the grace of the Holy Spirit, given by Christ and proper to each sacrament. The Spirit heals and transforms those who receive him by conforming them to the Son of God. The fruit of the sacramental life is that the Spirit of adoption makes the faithful partakers in the divine nature by uniting them in a living union with the only Son, the Savior.
• 1257 – The Lord himself affirms that Baptism is necessary for salvation. He also commands his disciples to proclaim the Gospel to all nations and to baptize them. Baptism is necessary for salvation for those to whom the Gospel has been proclaimed and who have had the possibility of asking for this sacrament. The Church does not know of any means other than Baptism that assures entry into eternal beatitude; this is why she takes care not to neglect the mission she has received from the Lord to see that all who can be baptized are “reborn of water and the Spirit.” God has bound salvation to the sacrament of Baptism, but he himself is not bound by his sacraments.
• 1416 – Communion with the Body and Blood of Christ increases the communicant’s union with the Lord, forgives his venial sins, and preserves him from grave sins. Since receiving this sacrament strengthens the bonds of charity between the communicant and Christ, it also reinforces the unity of the Church as the Mystical Body of Christ.
• 1452 – When it arises from a love by which God is loved above all else, contrition is called “perfect” (contrition of charity). Such contrition remits venial sins; it also obtains forgiveness of mortal sins if it includes the firm resolution to have recourse to sacramental confession as soon as possible.
• 1463 – Certain particularly grave sins incur excommunication, the most severe ecclesiastical penalty, which impedes the reception of the sacraments and the exercise of certain ecclesiastical acts, and for which absolution consequently cannot be granted, according to canon law, except by the Pope, the bishop of the place or priests authorized by them. In danger of death any priest, even if deprived of faculties for hearing confessions, can absolve from every sin and excommunication.
• 1468 – “The whole power of the sacrament of Penance consists in restoring us to God’s grace and joining us with him in an intimate friendship.” Reconciliation with God is thus the purpose and effect of this sacrament. For those who receive the sacrament of Penance with contrite heart and religious disposition, reconciliation “is usually followed by peace and serenity of conscience with strong spiritual consolation.” Indeed the sacrament of Reconciliation with God brings about a true “spiritual resurrection,” restoration of the dignity and blessings of the life of the children of God, of which the most precious is friendship with God.
• 1471 – The doctrine and practice of indulgences in the Church are closely linked to the effects of the sacrament of Penance. What is an indulgence? “An indulgence is a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven, which the faithful Christian who is duly disposed gains under certain prescribed conditions through the action of the Church which, as the minister of redemption, dispenses and applies with authority the treasury of the satisfactions of Christ and the saints.” “An indulgence is partial or plenary according as it removes either part or all of the temporal punishment due to sin.” The faithful can gain indulgences for themselves or apply them to the dead.
• 1477 – “This treasury includes as well the prayers and good works of the Blessed Virgin Mary. They are truly immense, unfathomable, and even pristine in their value before God. In the treasury, too, are the prayers and good works of all the saints, all those who have followed in the footsteps of Christ the Lord and by his grace have made their lives holy and carried out the mission in the unity of the Mystical Body.”
• 1478 – An indulgence is obtained through the Church who, by virtue of the power of binding and loosing granted her by Christ Jesus, intervenes in favor of individual Christians and opens for them the treasury of the merits of Christ and the saints to obtain from the Father of mercies the remission of the temporal punishments due for their sins. Thus the Church does not want simply to come to the aid of these Christians, but also to spur them to works of devotion, penance, and charity.
• 1495 – Only priests who have received the faculty of absolving from the authority of the Church can forgive sins in the name of Christ.
• 1496 – The spiritual effects of the sacrament of Penance are: – reconciliation with God by which the penitent recovers grace; – reconciliation with the Church; – remission of the eternal punishment incurred by mortal sins; – remission, at least in part, of temporal punishments resulting from sin; – peace and serenity of conscience, and spiritual consolation; – an increase of spiritual strength for the Christian battle.
• 1498 – Through indulgences the faithful can obtain the remission of temporal punishment resulting from sin for themselves and also for the souls in Purgatory.
• 1814 – Faith is the theological virtue by which we believe in God and believe all that he has said and revealed to us, and that Holy Church proposes for our belief, because he is truth itself. By faith “man freely commits his entire self to God.” For this reason the believer seeks to know and do God’s will. “The righteous shall live by faith.” Living faith “work[s] through charity.”
• 1862 – One commits venial sin when, in a less serious matter, he does not observe the standard prescribed by the moral law, or when he disobeys the moral law in a grave matter, but without full knowledge or without complete consent.
• 1863 – Venial sin weakens charity; it manifests a disordered affection for created goods; it impedes the soul’s progress in the exercise of the virtues and the practice of the moral good; it merits temporal punishment. Deliberate and unrepented venial sin disposes us little by little to commit mortal sin. However venial sin does not break the covenant with God. With God’s grace it is humanly reparable. “Venial sin does not deprive the sinner of sanctifying grace, friendship with God, charity, and consequently eternal happiness.” While he is in the flesh, man cannot help but have at least some light sins. But do not despise these sins which we call “light”: if you take them for light when you weigh them, tremble when you count them. A number of light objects makes a great mass; a number of drops fills a river; a number of grains makes a heap. What then is our hope? Above all, confession.
• 1992 – Justification has been merited for us by the Passion of Christ who offered himself on the cross as a living victim, holy and pleasing to God, and whose blood has become the instrument of atonement for the sins of all men. Justification is conferred in Baptism, the sacrament of faith. It conforms us to the righteousness of God, who makes us inwardly just by the power of his mercy. Its purpose is the glory of God and of Christ, and the gift of eternal life: But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, they are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as an expiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins; it was to prove at the present time that he himself is righteous and that he justifies him who has faith in Jesus.
• 1999 – The grace of Christ is the gratuitous gift that God makes to us of his own life, infused by the Holy Spirit into our soul to heal it of sin and to sanctify it. It is the sanctifying or deifying grace received in Baptism. It is in us the source of the work of sanctification: Therefore if any one is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself.
• 2000 – Sanctifying grace is an habitual gift, a stable and supernatural disposition that perfects the soul itself to enable it to live with God, to act by his love. Habitual grace, the permanent disposition to live and act in keeping with God’s call, is distinguished from ‘actual graces’ which refer to God’s interventions, whether at the beginning of conversion or in the course of the work of sanctification.
• 2003 – Grace is first and foremost the gift of the Spirit who justifies and sanctifies us. But grace also includes the gifts that the Spirit grants us to associate us with his work, to enable us to collaborate in the salvation of others and in the growth of the Body of Christ, the Church. There are sacramental graces, gifts proper to the different sacraments. There are furthermore special graces, also called charisms after the Greek term used by St. Paul and meaning “favor,” “gratuitous gift,” “benefit.” Whatever their character – sometimes it is extraordinary, such as the gift of miracles or of tongues – charisms are oriented toward sanctifying grace and are intended for the common good of the Church. They are at the service of charity which builds up the Church.
• 2010 – Since the initiative belongs to God in the order of grace, no one can merit the initial grace of forgiveness and justification, at the beginning of conversion. Moved by the Holy Spirit and by charity, we can then merit for ourselves and for others the graces needed for our sanctification, for the increase of grace and charity, and for the attainment of eternal life. Even temporal goods like health and friendship can be merited in accordance with God’s wisdom. These graces and goods are the object of Christian prayer. Prayer attends to the grace we need for meritorious actions.
• 2020 – Justification has been merited for us by the Passion of Christ. It is granted us through Baptism. It conforms us to the righteousness of God, who justifies us. It has for its goal the glory of God and of Christ, and the gift of eternal life. It is the most excellent work of God’s mercy.
• 2068 – The Council of Trent teaches that the Ten Commandments are obligatory for Christians and that the justified man is still bound to keep them; the Second Vatican Council confirms: “The bishops, successors of the apostles, receive from the Lord . . . the mission of teaching all peoples, and of preaching the Gospel to every creature, so that all men may attain salvation through faith, Baptism and the observance of the Commandments.”
• 2080  – The Decalogue contains a privileged expression of the natural law. It is made known to us by divine revelation and by human reason.

E) The challenge to OSAS:  To fall away.(Hebrews 6)

In the  time we have left, let’s go to some passages that people will try to use to say you can lose your salvation.

The number one scripture that people use to try show you that you can lose your salvation is Matthew seven”I never knew you”. It is where Jesus says ‘I never knew you’. This was actually the first verse in section D) -‘Eternal Security’ in which we showed that Jesus here teaches that you can’t lose salvation. I have had more people show me Matthew 7:21-23 than any other verse in the bible, to show me you can lose your salvation.  But it shows that those who believe not, those who are not saved but trust in their works, of who the ‘God of this world has blinded the minds of them which believe not’, to them Jesus says “I never knew you”. Refer to section B),  we already talked about that one.

The second most common verse people take me to is Hebrews six: (refer to the 4th slide of : 190513 OSAS ppoint. )

“For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame. For the earth which drinks in the rain that comes oft upon it, and brings forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receives blessing from God: But that which bears thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned. But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak”

So let’s say a few things about this passage, first of all number one if this verse were teaching that you can lose your salvation, which it’s not but if it were isn’t it pretty clear that its saying you’d never be able to get it back because it says in verse six “If they shall fall away,” it says it is impossible in verse four, if they shall fall away in verse six “to renew them again unto repentance; “ So if this verse were theoretically teaching you, you can lose your salvation, wouldn’t it be saying you can never get it back? But yet everyone you talk to that thinks you can lose it, thinks you can get it back. It’s like now I’m saved, now I’m not, now I’m saved, now I’m not and they go back and forth. But here’s the thing about this passage: Where does this passage say that these people are saved? Or that they hadD everlasting life? It doesn’t, and that’s the thing when we show verses to prove that you can’t lose your salvation, they use words like saved, they use words like eternal life, they use words like everlasting life, they are clear scriptures.

This verse does not say saved, it does not say eternal life, here is what it actually says “those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; “ Now what is this talking about ? This is not talking about a person who gets saved, this is talking about a person who hears the gospel, the holy spirit is working in their hearts, they finally understand it, what does it mean to be enlightened? The light bulb comes o: “I get it now, I understand it, I comprehend it”, and it fully hits home with them and they have been enlightened, they’ve tasted it, they’re right there. They understand it, the holy ghost is working, they’ve tasted it and they just no, it’s their final rejection.

Often unbelievers don’t get it, so I keep explaining it and explaining it, but it is hard for the unsaved person to understand, in fact it’s got to be through the holy spirit that they even understand: Because “the natural man receives not the things of the spirit of God”. It takes the Holy Spirit to even illuminate someone and enlighten someone and the Holy Spirit illuminates and enlightens someone. When they get it and then they reject it, a lot of times that’s their last chance. That’s what the bible is teaching here, because what is the key word here in this passage? It’s the word in verse eight

“But that which bears thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing;”

What’s a synonym for rejected? Reprobate. Those that are reprobate, now look isn’t the bible here in Hebrews six talking about someone for whom it is impossible to get saved. This is talking about a guy, it’s impossible to renew this guy into repentance, this guy is not getting saved, this guy is going to be burned, this guy is rejected. These are like the people in Romans one, that God turned over to a reprobate mind, this is like pharaoh whose heart was hardened okay.

But the disagreement that I have with people who would use this to say you can lose your salvation is they are saying these people got saved and then lost it. This passage doesn’t say they got saved, this passage doesn’t say they had everlasting life, it just says they tasted it and they partook of the Holy Ghost. Remember the Holy Ghost spoke through Caiaphas the high priest, who wasn’t even saved. The Holy Ghost came upon Caiaphas in the book of John and he spoke as he was moved by the Holy Ghost, and he was not even saved, denying belief on Christ. The fact the Holy Ghost is working in someone does not mean that they are saved, just because they tasted it, they’re that close, and then they fall away from it.

I have seen this, I’ve known people who were on the fence about getting saved, you know they’re open to it, they’re coming to church, they’re thinking about it but they’re not saved but they’re thinking about it, the seeds being watered, the seeds been planted its being watered, and they come to a point where it’s like no and they walk away from it and then those people become reprobate. They just, it’s like you can never get that person saved and I can name for you people specifically that I’ve known like that where I’ve seen this in, in my own life okay. So that’s Hebrews six.

The Third challenge to OSAS: Endure to the end. (Matt 24)

We already seen Matthew seven, let’s go to Matthew 24. I’m just trying to go to the top scriptures that people will try to use to, to say that you can lose your salvation. Matthew seven is the number one, I don’t even know what to say about that, its so bizarre, it says I never knew you. Period, end of story. Then we go to Hebrews six, the second most common and, and what do we see there, there’s no clear statement that those people were ever saved or had eternal life, so therefore they must not have been saved. Otherwise it would contradict the whole rest of the bible, so obviously those people were just on the verge of getting saved. The Holy Ghost is moving and working in them, they’ve tasted it, it’s right there, they are on the verge. But then they walk away and now they’re reprobates. That’s what Hebrews six is teaching, and what is the moral of Hebrews six? The moral is that, if you’re not saved, and God’s working in you, you are hearing the word of God and know the power of God’s word is working in you, now is the time to get saved. Because you never know when it’s going to be your last chance to get saved, that’s what Hebrews six is teaching.

Now look at Matthew 24 verse 13, here’s another passage, probably the third most common objection that I’ve been shown:

“ But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.”

Now they say: “See right there- to be saved you have to endure until the end to be saved”. Now if you go to verse 9 ,or let’s go to verse 22 and first look at verse 22 “ And except those days should be shortened, there should no “ what? ” flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.” Now let me ask you this verse 22 are we talking about people going to heaven when we say saved? We’re talking about the flesh being saved. Is there a difference between the flesh being saved and the soul being saved?

Absolutely, because in first Corinthians five it says “To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus” So the flesh and the spirit are two different things. To sit there and use this passage to teach works-salvation, ‘you got to endure to the end to be saved’, when it is talking about your flesh being saved, understand that its not talking about your soul being saved. For example when Peter was drowning, what did he cry out to the Lord? “Lord save me” Is that when he got saved?

Was that when he was going to heaven; when he cried out Lord ‘Save me’? No he is pleading to be saved physically from drowning. There’s a physical salvation too, and here it flat out spells out “And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened. “ What days? The days of the tribulation! Go back if you would to verse nine, because member the verse in question is verse 13 right? Let’s get the verses leading up to verse 13 to get the context it says in verse nine “Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you:” so does that sound like somebody’s flesh is in danger? So, do you see how they could be saved from being killed? because it says

“Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.”

Endure what? This period when people are being killed for the cause of Christ, where people are being betrayed into the hands of the authorities, where people’s love is waxing cold and people are in danger, it’s a time of great tribulation such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. That’s the context of Matthew 24, and it says the flesh shall be saved. What does that mean? That means if you survive the famine, pestilences, warfare and beheadings and endure to the end you will be saved, meaning you’ll be rescued out of there via the rapture, that’s what it teaches.

I mean it almost, it sounds like we could lose it if we just took that verse all by itself. Let’s be honest, doesn’t that sound like it says you have to endure till the end to be saved? But that’s why you have to read the bible in context and that’s why anybody who takes this verse by itself and quotes it by itself is a liar. Anybody who quotes, well, ‘you have to endure till the end to be saved, that’s how you’re going to get to heaven’, is a liar, that is not what this says. This says your flesh will be saved, this says they’re trying to kill you and you got to endure that persecution.

Go to Matthew ten, well find the same thing Matthew chapter ten. Same exact thing another passage people will bring out to say you can lose your salvation. It’s not enough to just to know something, we need to know what we know it and we need to know why we know it and we need to know how to prove it from scripture, because I want these foundations of doctrines to be strongly laid for the next generation and that everyone will not just walk out of here saying I know that we can’t lose our salvation; but to say: ‘I have got ten reasons why we can’t lose it biblically and I’m ready whenever they try to pull this fraud’.

The bible says in Matthew chapter 10, the same thing in verse 21 “And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death,” so what are we talking about? We’re talking about someone being physical killed, saved people being killed for their faith.

“ and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death.”

Why because the children don’t believe the same things that the parents believe, I wonder if it’s because they are reading out of a different bible? I wonder if it’s because they have a completely different music? I wonder if it is because they have a completely different doctrine, different lifestyle, different training, different schooling, different everything. He said

“the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endures to the end shall be saved. But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another: for verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come.”

So again, what are we talking about? The Second coming of Jesus Christ. Is that not what it is talking about in verse 23? Second coming of Christ, so in verse 21 people are being killed for the cause of Christ and in verse 22 were being hated and if we endure till the end will be saved, by what? The coming of Christ, he said just flee into another city, they’re killing you, the heads are coming off, flee into another city and you know eventually if you can endure until the end you’ll be saved, you’ll be delivered. There are so many scriptures on that subject of Matthew 10 and Matthew 24, we can go on and on. I mean he keeps going, look at verse 28:

 “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul:”

Do you see how there is a distinction being made? Between the body being saved and the soul being saved? The body being killed, the soul being killed?

“ fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. “

We can go on and on, I’ve got a few other scriptures that people will go to: 2 Timothy Chapter 2. It just proves your own security even more when you actually turn to it.

Folks we can’t lose our salvation and that’s the best news you’ve heard all day, because if you could lose your salvation we’d all lose it. We’d lose it this week, you know I mean, no, none of us could, would be able to live up to the standard of earning our way into heaven.

Thank God that our sins are gone as far as the east is from the west God has separated us from our sins and thank God for that promise he has promised us, the earnest of the spirit and we got his word that promises us hundreds of times that we can never lose our salvation. Don’t let the false teachers spin you on this and be ready to give an answer and when you by the way when you go out soul winning don’t ever give the gospel to anyone without teaching them about eternal security before you pray with them, before you pray and have them call upon the name of the Lord make sure they even understand what the gospel is, what the good news is that salvation is free and it is eternal.

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* This post is based on a transcript of Steven Andersen’s sermon ‘Once saved, always saved”. Some grammar and formatting has been tidied up for readability and long sentences divided into shorter bits. Some content was reshuffled, but still retaining the meaning. (e.g. interwoven Matt 7:21 and John 6 content was rearranged). Also in the interest of clarity some ‘off topic’ content was removed.  The introductory paragraphs to the sermon were also omitted. Blue insets are my additions/ clarifications.

For the original, see http://www.faithfulwordbaptist.org/once_saved_always_saved.html

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F) A Bible Study covering  Salvation and our eternal security – : 

The study will cover:

1. Eternal life
2. The Gift of God.
3. Not dying,
4. Being sealed by the spirit,
5. Being kept secure as a believer.
6. Some verses seeming to teach against our eternal security.
7. Other gospels.

 1)  Eternal Life

Consider the following verses:

• 1 John 5:10-13 These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.”That whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
• John 6:47: Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believes on me has everlasting life.
• For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. He that believes on him is not condemned: but he that believes not is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. John 3:16-18
• John 5:24: Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that hears my word, and believes on him that sent me, has everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.
• John 6:40} And this is the will of him that sent me, that everyone which sees the Son, and believes on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.
• John 6:54: Whoso eats my flesh, and drinks my blood, has eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.
• Luke 19:9 And Jesus said unto him, This day is salvation come to this house, forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham. {19:10} For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.

Questions:

1. Discuss “How do we receive eternal life?” from the above bible verses.
2. Is Eternal Life (or everlasting life) mentioned in the present tense?  What does this imply, do you think?
3. Read verses below. In John 10:28 we notice present and future tense in one sentence. “And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.” Could the verses below with ‘shall’ mean that we will be saved at future date, or is it a follow-on statement that is immediately true, but conditional on believing?
4. Can we say we are in Jesus’ hand now, if we believe?
5. How hard is it to be saved on the basis of John 10:9 below?

• John 10:9: I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.
• John 10:28 : And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.{10:29} My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.
• John 11:25: Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: {11:26a} And whosoever lives and believes in me shall never die…
• John 6:51: I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever:
• John 6:27: Labour not for the meat which perishes, but for that meat which endures unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.
• John 6:57: As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eats me, even he shall live by me.
• John 6:58b:: he that eats of this bread shall live for ever.
• John 20:31: But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name

Eternal is ever-lasting: Consider the word eternal. Eternal means never ending. It comes from a root word terminate. The E at the beginning is a negating prefix, and so eternal means not terminated, has no ending. It has a synonym in the bible: everlasting. So if I have life today that never ends, if I have eternal life today, and down the road at some point I were to lose it, was it ever eternal? No, because it ended. So if I have eternal life today; that means it can never end, because by definition, that’s what eternal life even is. Otherwise it would make no sense.

2) Gift of God.

The reason that Jesus’ gift of eternal life is such good news is that it is free. And not complicated, simple enough for a child to understand:. “Believe in Jesus Christ, trust He paid the penalty for your sin on the cross, trust that He died in your place as the following verses describe, and you are saved. That’s it. Read the verses below:

• Rom 6:23b “; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
• Ephesians 2:8-10 KJV“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”
• John 4:10 Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knew the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou would have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.
• Acts 2:38: Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized everyone of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
• Acts 11:17-18 Forasmuch then as God gave them the like gift as he did unto us, who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ; what was I, that I could withstand God? {11:18} When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then has God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.
• John 1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
• John 6:27 Labour not for the meat which perishes, but for that meat which endures unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.
• John 10:28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
• Ephesians 1:13-14 KJV “In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.”

Questions

1. What do you think is the basis of salvation as per Eph 1:13 and 2:8?
2. What is the gift of God?
3. Do you think this gift has strings attached? Do you think God may take it back?’’
4. If it’s taken back, was it ever eternal?
5. What do we have to do the keep the gift?
6. What is our contribution to being saved?
7. To a saved person we cane say: “You know what, you might get out of church, you might quit on God, but you’re still saved, He’s not going to quit on you?” Do you agree?
8. If salvation is not by works, would ‘enduring to the end’ be a work? Something we have to do to contribute?

Key verses: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.“ &; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ.

 Not dying, Sealed, Being kept, Jesus’ intercedes.

3a) Never Dying

To” live forever”, “have everlasting life” and “have eternal life” is Jesus’ promise which we have looked at in the previous verses. Now we come to a new implication. Now Jesus says believers will “never die”.

• John 8:51 Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.
• John 11:25 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: {11:26} And whosoever lives and believes in me shall never die.
• Matt 5:8  And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul:

Note Jesus uses the word NEVER. Do you get the picture? These are two sides of the same promise; if as a believer you “shall not perish but have everlasting life”, and as a believer if  ‘you live and you believe’, then you will ‘never die’. Starting right at the moment you believed, you will never die!

• Q: If we were to ‘fall’, doubt or ‘stop believing’ for whatever reason, and we died spiritually, would Jesus’ words of ‘never die’ be true?

Also a side note, believers go straight from this life to everlasting life, there is no ‘in-between’ stage, or the catholic ‘purgatory’, or the Adventist’s ‘soul sleep’.

• 2 Cor 5:8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord
• Luke 23:43: And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.

3b) Sealed:

• “And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.” Ephesians 4:30 KJV
• “In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,” Ephesians 1:13KJV
• Who has also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts. (2 Corinthians 1:21, 22 KJV)

Questions

• What does ‘being sealed’ mean to you?
• When is ‘the day of redemption’?
• Did your body transform the moment you believed on Christ? Did your body become perfect or righteous? When will that happen?
• What is the earnest of the spirit?

The bible says when we are saved; God seals us and gives us the earnest of the spirit in our hearts. Earnest means serious. If I say something to you in earnest, it means that I was being serious. So when the bible says here God has given us the earnest of the spirit in our hearts, using earnest as a noun, it is a down payment, a deposit. What God is saying is that he sealed us, and he gave us the earnest of the holy spirit, showing that we’re saved, showing that we will have eternal life, showing that we’re going to go to heaven and be with him eternally. He gives us that down payment of the spirit.

The reason that the spirit is called the earnest, or the down payment, is because we are not fully redeemed when we get saved, because our body has not been redeemed. Now our soul and spirit have already been saved, but has our body been saved? No, your flesh is the same, but at the resurrection, at what’s called the rapture, the bible says” in a moment in a twinkling of an eye we will be changed”. The bible says that we are waiting for that day, tells us to wait the redemption of our body. The bible calls the rapture the ‘redemption of our body’. Until then we have the earnest of the spirit in our heart, showing that God is serious, showing that God is going to do what he said. The bible said he begun a good work in you, will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.

3c) Kept secure, preserved:

• Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called: (Jude 1:1)
• “For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.” 2 Timothy 1:12 KJV
• Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, (Jude 1:24 KJV)
• “Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever lives to make intercession for them.” Hebrews 7:25 KJV
• “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fades not away, reserved in heaven for you, Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” 1 Peter 1:3-5 KJV
• For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38-39“
• Now he which stablishes us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts. (2 Corinthians 1:21, 22)
• But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born , not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.  (John 1:12, 13 KJV)

Questions:

• Do you think assurances like “Him that is able to keep you from falling” and “Who are kept by the power of God” leaves any room to say that “we can still fall away?”
• Do you think it is possible that someone trusting in Jesus work will stop believing?
• Do you think it is possible that someone also trusting in his own works will stop believing?

 “And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. “

Jesus says you’re in Jesus Christ’s hand and you’re in the Father’s hand and nobody is going to pluck you out of that hand. God is stronger than you, so if you would attempt a hypothetical tug-a-war with God, like “let me go, let me go”, He is not going to let go because he said no one can pluck you out of his hand. Because his hand is so strong, you can’t get out. And notice, He doesn’t say he’s holding your hand; no you are in His hand. There’s no way you’re going to crawl out.

3d) Jesus makes intercession for us.

• Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin (Romans 4:7,8).
• It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us

Questions:

• What do you think the bible says about my sins?
• Do you think can I lose my salvation if God’s not even going to ‘impute my sins unto me’

It says the past is covered in Rom 4:7: “Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven”, and that’s past tense, “whose sins are covered.” That’s a past tense verb. Look it’s clear, how can I lose my salvation if God’s not even going to impute my sins unto me according to Romans 4:8? Look at Romans 8:33 “Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifies.” Now if God’s not going to lay anything to our charge, if men can’t lay anything to our charge and our sins are not imputed unto us, so then “Who is he that condemns?”

Remember the verse that says we shall not come into condemnation? We have ‘passed from death unto life’? “Who is he that condemns? “It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.” So what Christ did for us is not just past tense, he died, he was buried. But he rose again,he also ever lives to make intercession for us, to make sure we shall not be condemned, to make sure no one can lay anything to our charge, to make sure sin will not be imputed unto us spiritually going forward, it says he makes intercession for us.

 

4a) Verses seemingly speaking against OSAS

Read Matthew 7:21-23

Questions

• When someone is saved and a member of the family of God, would it be possible that Jesus could say: “I never knew you”. (Also ref John 10:27)
• Is it correct to assume that a person doing ‘wonderful works’ in Jesus’ name is saved?
• What incriminating thing do they say that shows that they are not trusting in Jesus’ work on the cross?
• Did they think their works had something to do with being saved?
• How dangerous is works salvation, to trust in our and Jesus’ contribution to salvation?

The number one scripture that people use to show that you can lose your salvation is Matthew 7:21-23 “I never knew you”. They assume these people prophesying and casting out devils are saved. This verse actually shows you the opposite; that they were never saved in the first place, where it says ‘I NEVER knew you’. Also refer to the PowerPoint.

• What is doing the ‘will of the father’ (v21) according to John 6:38-40

Hebrews six:

“For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame”

Questions:

• Is tasting the same as eating?
• Is being enlightened (i.e. understanding) the same as believing and trusting?
• Does this passage say these people were saved?
• Does this passage say they had everlasting life?

This passage doesn’t say these people got saved, this passage doesn’t say they had everlasting life, it just says they tasted it and they partook of the Holy Ghost. Remember the Holy Ghost spoke through Caiaphas the high priest, who wasn’t even saved. The Holy Ghost came upon Caiaphas in the book of John and he spoke as he was moved by the Holy Ghost, and he was not even saved, denying belief on Christ. The fact the Holy Ghost is working in someone does not mean that they are saved, just because they tasted it, they’re that close, and then they fall away from it.

This verse does not say ‘saved’; it does not say ‘eternal life’. This is not talking about a person who gets saved, this is talking about a person who hears the gospel, the holy spirit is working in their hearts, they finally understand it. What does it mean to be enlightened? The light bulb comes on: “I get it now, I understand it, I comprehend it”, and it fully hits home with them and they have been enlightened. They’ve tasted it, they’re right there. They understand it, the Holy Ghost is working, they’ve tasted it. But then they just say no, and it’s their final rejection.

Hebrews 3:12

{3:10} Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do always err in their heart; and they have not known my ways. {3:11} So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.) {3:12} Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.

So what is this passage saying? That we may find that there are amongst us some that are unbelievers. Does this match with what Jesus said? Yes, he warned that there would be tares amongst the wheat. That the tares would be visually indistinguishable from the wheat! That we why we should also examine ourselves, should there be found ” in any of you an evil heart of unbelief”. Is this talking of saved people losing their salvation? Not at all! It is self-evident from this passage that it describes unbelievers. It is possible some may understand,  someone can stand at the door, understanding what Jesus offers, be on the point of entering in, but then still turn away and depart.

We have to examine the context. Taking one half of a verse “departing from the living God” on its own is distorting the meaning. But when taking it in context, then it means: “if any of you are in unbelief, when you have an evil heart of unbelief, then you will say, do and teach things which depart from the living God, things which are twisted. If someone is not saved, not abiding in Christ, will they speak God’s words? No, they are likely to be departing from God’s ways.

 

Matthew 24:13, 22

• “ But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.”
• “ And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.”(v22)

Questions:

• In verse 22, are we talking about people going to heaven when we say ‘saved’?
• Is there a difference between the flesh being saved and the soul being saved?
• When Peter was drowning he cried out to Jesus: “Lord save me” Is that when he got saved?

You may say: “See right there- to be saved you have to endure until the end to be saved”. But first look at verse 22 “ And except those days should be shortened, there should no “ what? ” flesh be saved:” Now let’s ask: in verse 22 are we talking about people going to heaven when we say saved? No, we’re talking about the flesh being saved. Is there a difference between the flesh being saved and the soul being saved? Absolutely, because in first Corinthians five it says “To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus”

So the flesh and the spirit are two different things. To use this passage to teach works-salvation, ‘you got to endure to the end to be saved’, when it is talking about your flesh being saved, understand that it’s not talking about your soul being saved. For example when Peter was drowning, what did he cry out to the Lord? “Lord save me” Is that when he got saved? Do you see how there is a distinction being made between the body being saved and the soul being saved? The body being killed, the soul being killed?

“ fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

2 Pet 2:14-22

As described before, someone can stand at the door, understanding what Jesus offers, be on the point of entering in, but then still turn away and depart. This is what Peter also describes, the understanding is there, they know the way, the knowledge is there, they even live a clean life for a while, but they never believe. They still can’t let go of their sin, they are servants of corruption.

This is a very clear picture of a false teacher, ‘clouds without water’. Having the appearance of having something to offer, but having no content.

2 Pet 2 “Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children: {2:15}Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; {2:16} But was rebuked for his iniquity: the dumb ass speaking with man’s voice forbad the madness of the prophet. {2:17} These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever. {2:18} For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error. {2:19}While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage. {2:20} For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. {2:21} For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. {2:22} But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire. (2 Pet 2:14-22)

• Romans 4:5  “But to him that works not, but believeth on him that justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.”
• The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.(Psalm 12:6-7)

 

5a) Other gospels.

Works Salvation:  To distinguish between works salvation, and Salvation as a gift of God upon faith and trust in the work of Jesus Christ, refer to power point slides…190513 OSAS ppoint)

The Catholics, Islamists, Judaists and Jehovah’s witnesses, Mormons have one thing in common: They all believe that we can earn our salvation by being a good person. That mankind has to work and earn their way into heaven. They believe if our good deeds exceed our bad, we will be OK. If they work hard in building up their faith, have more faith, they’ll be surer to make it to heaven. If they regularly confess their sins, pray a lot, etc, etc. they’ll have a better chance of making it.

Unfortunately this kind of works salvations also creeps into Christian churches, but it is not the gospel of the bible, this ‘gospel’ cannot save anyone.

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*google ‘faithfulword Baptist Church’ for more details and other Steve Andersen sermons.