Okay, now that I have your attention....
One of the main things that is troublesome to my soul, are those who believe one must strive to live the "Christian life" in order to remain saved. They believe that if you sin too much after your conversion, you can lose your salvation. Or they believe you can "give" your salvation back to God and walk away. Or, they'll say, if you don't live and act in a Christian "manner" it proves you were never saved at all.
I wanted to point out, that if one can lose their salvation, based on their performance in any way, then that makes God a liar.
So, what is your verdict? Did God lie to us when He made all of those promises, or is our salvation indeed eternal and irrevocable?
Respectfully, it does not make God out to be a liar, but makes expositors guilty of misinterpreting God's word.
Hey Buddman,
This is also one of my pet peeves. I would like to point out that, all of those promises that you listed above are based on the believer continuing in faith. We are saved by grace through faith. Not a just a one-time confession, but faith from first to last. If a believer goes back to "willfully" living according to the sinful nature, that person has wandered away from the truth and is accumulating sin which leads to death. It's not just "your saved no matter what you do our how you live!" Regarding this, consider what the following:
"Once you were alienated from God and were hostile in your minds because of your evil deeds. But now He has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy, unblemished, and blameless in His presence—
if indeed you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope of the gospel you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant." - Coloss.1:23
"We have come to share in Christ
if we hold firmly to the end the assurance we had at first. - Heb.3:14
Notice the condition of "If you continue" in the scriptures above. Our part is faith. If a believer goes back to willfully living according to the sinful nature, that person has wandered away from the truth. He is no longer taking up his cross daily and is no longer producing the fruit of the Spirit. Therefore, if a person remains in the that state and dies in that state, they will die in their sins. And if you don't think that a believer can lose his/her salvation, consider the following:
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Because of this, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began the settlements, a debtor was brought to him owing ten thousand talents. Since the man was unable to pay, the master ordered that he be sold to pay his debt, along with his wife and children and everything he owned.
Then the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Have patience with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’
His master had compassion on him, forgave his debt, and released him.
But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him and began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay back what you owe me.’ So his fellow servant fell down and begged him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you back.’ But he refused. Instead, he went and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay his debt.
When his fellow servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed, and they went and recounted all of this to their master.
Then the master summoned him and declared, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave all your debt because you begged me. Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had on you?’ In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should repay all that he owed.
That is how My Heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.”
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In the parable above, the master which represents God, forgives the mans debt, which represents the believer and our sins. The master forgives him his entire debt (all sin). Then that servant/believer goes out to one of his fellow servants/fellow believer and demands that he pay him the few dollars that he owes him. But he would not have mercy on him and instead has him thrown into prison until he can pay him back (unforgiving). Then that servant whose great debt (all sin) was forgiven ends up paying the original debt. So, in this case, not forgiving your brother from your heart can forfeit your forgiveness for your sin which God forgave you for. For Jesus confirms it at the end of the parable saying " That is how My Heavenly Father will treat each of you." Consider the following as well:
"My brothers, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring him back, consider this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and cover over a multitude of sins." - James 5:18
In the scripture above, James starts off with "My brothers" which means that James is speaking to believers in Chris, regardless of whether Jew or Gentile. Then he says, If one of those "brothers should "wander away from the truth," which would mean to turn away from Christ and go back to living according to the sinful nature, and another believer bring that brother back to walking in faith, then when that person returns from that wandered state, a multitude of sins are covered over and their soul is saved from death, which means that in that wandered stated the believe will have been accumulating sin which leads to death.
I am not saying anything other than what scripture teaches in that, we are saved by grace through faith. Not a one time confession of faith, but faith that is from first to last - Rom.1:17.
The problem is that this teaching of "once saved, always saved" has been introduced into the world. God is not a liar, it is just that people have misinterpreted scripture. As believers in Christ, we cannot just make a single confession and then willfully go back to living according to the sinful nature, die in that state and look forward to salvation. In that case, what difference would there be between the believer who is willfully living according to the sinful nature, opposed to the unbeliever who is willfully living according to the sinful nature? Consider another example:
"But suppose that servant is wicked and says in his heart, ‘My master will be away a long time.’ And he begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards. The master of that servant will come on a day he does not anticipate and at an hour he does not expect. Then he will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
Master = Christ
Severant = Believer (in this parable, one who is an overseer of other believers)
If that believer goes back to beating his fellow servants (other believers) and begins to eat and drink with drunkards (partying), The Master (Jesus) will come back at a time when that servant/believer is not expecting him and he will assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be a weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Does sound like once saved always saved? In the parable, the believe turns back to willfully living according to the sinful nature. And if he continues in it until the Lord comes or until he dies, then what is written will his fate.
It is Once saved always saved, if the believer continues in faith from first to last. If it was OSAS period, then all of the warnings about the believer willfully living according to the sinful nature would be useless.
Therefore, all of the promises of salvation are dependent upon our continuing in faith from first to last. The end of all this is that, we are saved by grace through faith. Not just a one-time faith, but faith from beginning to end.