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dandirom
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- #121
I do believe we are saved BY GRACE, and GRACE ALONE, NOT BY WORKS. But the Bible is also very clear about what is expected of us once we are saved. In Ephesians 2:8-10 it is clear we are not saved 'as a result of works', but after receiving His salvation we should prove our faith by what we do for we are 'His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus FOR GOOD WORKS, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.'
The Bible clearly states, and I quote the NASB version, that 'no one will snatch them out of My hand'. True, no question there. But what if that person chooses to go out of the Father's hand? We all have been given free will, the choice of life and death, blessing and cursing. I do believe a Christian is secure in Christ but the Bible does give conditions for remaining in His love. 'If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as i have kept my father's commandments, and abide in his love'. 'If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.' I don't think that the conditional security of the believer belittles God's mercy, the fact that He died for us 'while we were yet sinners' is proof enough of God's love for us but He is also a just God - He cannot, He will not, and He will never condone sin.
'Well, because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith, Be not high-minded, but fear:
For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee.
Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, IF THOU CONTINUE in his goodness: OTHERWISE THOU ALSO SHALT BE CUT OFF.
And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again.'
'But God cannot go back on His promises', some will say. True, God has promised salvation to those who believe - but He has also given His word about what will happen to those who don't believe or forsake Him. He cannot break those promises too. He clearly states in His Word what He will do to those believers who make a choice to forsake Him and to those who don't listen to His Word - those are promises that He cannot break. The Bible reiterates that salvation is for those who believe, for those who love Him - and the Bible is clear that to love Him and to believe in Him is to obey Him. Yes, God has never and will never break a single promise to His Children - just don't forget that He always gives us two choices. If we choose His righteousness He has a promise for that, and if we choose to do evil even after we have received Him God also made a promise about that - and as everyone knows, God never goes back on a promise.
'And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.
He that saith, I know Him, and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
But whoso keepeth His Word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in Him.
He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked.'
'They that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation' - Yes, we did not receive salvation because of works but He did give a condition that once we receive Him we should obey Him. 'And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?'
His sacrifice is so precious and so sacred that when we sin wilfully we are treading 'under foot the Son of God' and counting 'the blood of the covenant' wherewith we have been sanctified, 'an unholy thing' and are doing 'despite unto the Spirit of Grace'.
'What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid, How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?'
'What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.'
Being under grace does not give us a license to sin - our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has also given a promise about what He will do to those who continue in Sin or go back to sin despite having tasted of the heavenly gift.
'For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you.
They are godless men, WHO CHANGE THE GRACE OF OUR GOD INTO A LICENSE FOR IMMORALITY and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.
Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the Lord delivered His people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe.'
'But if that servant say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to beat the menservants and maidens, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken;
The lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will APPOINT HIM HIS PORTION WITH THE UNBELIEVERS.' - We all know what the portion of the unbelievers is.
And take Matthew 22 verse 1-14 for example. The wedding parable is about God's invitation to salvation. The guests are those who accepted His invitation. But when you accept the invitation, you are supposed to take of your old nature and clothe yourself with His righteousness. 'And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment: (Romans13:13-14 has something about clothing ourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, also Ephesians 4:20-24)
And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless.
Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
For many are called, but few are chosen.'
He is a merciful and loving God - but He is also a just and fearful God. Time and again, He destroyed those of His chosen people who did not believe. 'Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted...Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents...Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.'
As I stated at the start, Salvation is by grace and grace alone - ABSOLUTELY NOT of works. But we need to remember that Christ died to save us from sin - to continue in sin after receiving Him and to claim that a person is still saved is a claim the Bible clearly and explicitly repudates. It's tantamount to saying that God condones sin - it totally defeats the purpose of His sacrifice on the cross. Yes, NOBODY can ever claim to be without sin but God has laid down the sins that are unto death. Sins that NO ONE who does them, saved or not, could ever inherit HIS kingdom. Those are the WILFULL SINS. When you snap at someone, or say something wrong, or lose your temper - those aren't premeditated sins, not wilfull sins. 'Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication...Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred...murders, drunkenness...and such like" of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall NOT INHERIT THE KINGDOM OF GOD.' When a Christian commits adultery or fornication those are sins where he or she has to make a conscious decision to sin - to trample on His death and insult the Spirit of grace. That is wilfull - on cannot say, oh, I just stumbled and next thing I knew this girl was right there.
The problem I have with the doctrine of Once Saved Always Saved (aside from the fact that there is absolutely no verse in the Bible that says that) is because many of its proponents actually claim that even if you die while commiting adultery, if you commit suicide, if you die in the act of fornication, if you had accepted Christ before you are still saved. That is not grace but a disgrace. Where is the purity of Christian life? How are we different from the world if Christ has no standards?
'Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot?' 'What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?' - It is very clear that His Spirit will never be one with an harlot so the moment a Christian commits that sin the Spirit will surely leave that person and we know that anyone who dies WITHOUT the Spirit has no seal because the Spirit is the seal. Or are we to believe that the HOLY SPIRIT (I believe we all know what HOLY means) will continue to stay in a person while that very same person is commiting a sin unto death and actUally 'insulting the SPIRIT OF GRACE'?
The Bible clearly states, and I quote the NASB version, that 'no one will snatch them out of My hand'. True, no question there. But what if that person chooses to go out of the Father's hand? We all have been given free will, the choice of life and death, blessing and cursing. I do believe a Christian is secure in Christ but the Bible does give conditions for remaining in His love. 'If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as i have kept my father's commandments, and abide in his love'. 'If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.' I don't think that the conditional security of the believer belittles God's mercy, the fact that He died for us 'while we were yet sinners' is proof enough of God's love for us but He is also a just God - He cannot, He will not, and He will never condone sin.
'Well, because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith, Be not high-minded, but fear:
For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee.
Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, IF THOU CONTINUE in his goodness: OTHERWISE THOU ALSO SHALT BE CUT OFF.
And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again.'
'But God cannot go back on His promises', some will say. True, God has promised salvation to those who believe - but He has also given His word about what will happen to those who don't believe or forsake Him. He cannot break those promises too. He clearly states in His Word what He will do to those believers who make a choice to forsake Him and to those who don't listen to His Word - those are promises that He cannot break. The Bible reiterates that salvation is for those who believe, for those who love Him - and the Bible is clear that to love Him and to believe in Him is to obey Him. Yes, God has never and will never break a single promise to His Children - just don't forget that He always gives us two choices. If we choose His righteousness He has a promise for that, and if we choose to do evil even after we have received Him God also made a promise about that - and as everyone knows, God never goes back on a promise.
'And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.
He that saith, I know Him, and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
But whoso keepeth His Word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in Him.
He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked.'
'They that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation' - Yes, we did not receive salvation because of works but He did give a condition that once we receive Him we should obey Him. 'And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?'
His sacrifice is so precious and so sacred that when we sin wilfully we are treading 'under foot the Son of God' and counting 'the blood of the covenant' wherewith we have been sanctified, 'an unholy thing' and are doing 'despite unto the Spirit of Grace'.
'What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid, How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?'
'What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.'
Being under grace does not give us a license to sin - our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has also given a promise about what He will do to those who continue in Sin or go back to sin despite having tasted of the heavenly gift.
'For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you.
They are godless men, WHO CHANGE THE GRACE OF OUR GOD INTO A LICENSE FOR IMMORALITY and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.
Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the Lord delivered His people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe.'
'But if that servant say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to beat the menservants and maidens, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken;
The lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will APPOINT HIM HIS PORTION WITH THE UNBELIEVERS.' - We all know what the portion of the unbelievers is.
And take Matthew 22 verse 1-14 for example. The wedding parable is about God's invitation to salvation. The guests are those who accepted His invitation. But when you accept the invitation, you are supposed to take of your old nature and clothe yourself with His righteousness. 'And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment: (Romans13:13-14 has something about clothing ourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, also Ephesians 4:20-24)
And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless.
Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
For many are called, but few are chosen.'
He is a merciful and loving God - but He is also a just and fearful God. Time and again, He destroyed those of His chosen people who did not believe. 'Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted...Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents...Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.'
As I stated at the start, Salvation is by grace and grace alone - ABSOLUTELY NOT of works. But we need to remember that Christ died to save us from sin - to continue in sin after receiving Him and to claim that a person is still saved is a claim the Bible clearly and explicitly repudates. It's tantamount to saying that God condones sin - it totally defeats the purpose of His sacrifice on the cross. Yes, NOBODY can ever claim to be without sin but God has laid down the sins that are unto death. Sins that NO ONE who does them, saved or not, could ever inherit HIS kingdom. Those are the WILFULL SINS. When you snap at someone, or say something wrong, or lose your temper - those aren't premeditated sins, not wilfull sins. 'Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication...Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred...murders, drunkenness...and such like" of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall NOT INHERIT THE KINGDOM OF GOD.' When a Christian commits adultery or fornication those are sins where he or she has to make a conscious decision to sin - to trample on His death and insult the Spirit of grace. That is wilfull - on cannot say, oh, I just stumbled and next thing I knew this girl was right there.
The problem I have with the doctrine of Once Saved Always Saved (aside from the fact that there is absolutely no verse in the Bible that says that) is because many of its proponents actually claim that even if you die while commiting adultery, if you commit suicide, if you die in the act of fornication, if you had accepted Christ before you are still saved. That is not grace but a disgrace. Where is the purity of Christian life? How are we different from the world if Christ has no standards? 'Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot?' 'What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?' - It is very clear that His Spirit will never be one with an harlot so the moment a Christian commits that sin the Spirit will surely leave that person and we know that anyone who dies WITHOUT the Spirit has no seal because the Spirit is the seal. Or are we to believe that the HOLY SPIRIT (I believe we all know what HOLY means) will continue to stay in a person while that very same person is commiting a sin unto death and actUally 'insulting the SPIRIT OF GRACE'?
: :wink: !
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