He is not the author and finisher of his faith, Jesus is. Yet, we must WORK OUT OUR OWN salvation with fear and trembling."
Hebrews 10:26
This is speaking of a very specific sin; the sin of denouncing the truth after claiming to accept it. This passage is showing that if a man denounces the faith,
he never had it to begin with.
This is not in any way saying we need to keep up our own salvation.
Hebrews 6:4
"It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit,"
Again, this is talking about the same thing as the passage above; that if a man "falls away" from the faith, then he
never really had any true faith in the first place.
King Saul started out well, but he fell...and tried to (out of jealousy) kill David. He lost his faith. I would LOVE to believe that OSAS is truth but...it is only truth in my estimation, IF we continue in the faith.
I do not believe this to be the case at all. Never in the Scriptures does it say that Saul lost his salvation... I do not believe that Saul was saved. At least not from what we saw of him. He was a humanistic man ruled by his anger who liked to pretend he was right with God out of fear. He never really cared very much at all. At least not until towards the end of his life.
I spent 2.5 years in a Calvinistic local body and I must say, there are many if not most, who believe that it does not matter at all what they do as they are "saved for eternity"...I'm sorry but, that is so wrong.
I completely agree. This is a false interpretation of OSAS, and a gross, disgusting one at that. The fact that our salvation is secure should by no means hinder good works, or make us any less eager to do them. The problem I have is the
motivation though.
Why are we doing the good works? If you believe that your good works earn you salvation, they cannot and never will be motivated by a pure love of Christ and His sacrifice. We may
claim that they are, but in reality in the back of our minds and in the core of our being, you know that you
have to do these good works to "keep up your salvation."
Again, I do
agree that there are many out there that can and often do completely misunderstand the point of OSAS, claiming that they can live however they want. I will battle them as fervently and passionately as I would anyone else, because they are wrong.
Calvinism steals, kills and destroys the joy we are to have in Him. It steals our hope, and causes the most ardent proponents of this horrid doctrine to totally doubt their salvation.
Not true. At all. And here's why. Calvinism has brought a peace to my life that cannot be explained. The entire doctrine boils down to
God is in complete and utter control, even if it doesn't seem like it from our point of view. You claim that I should be scattering around, doing good works, making my salvation sure;
all of theses are good things. The problem arises when we examine MOTIVE. Why are you doing these good works? To keep up your own salvation? Was Christ's blood not enough to satisfy God? Was it not enough to atone for your sins? Was it not enough to appease the wrath of God?
Then I regret to tell you that nothing you do will ever be enough. I would much rather cling to Christ's works then mine. My works will never be enough to sustain my salvation;
if my salvation is based on my works, and my ability to persevere, then I am already lost. Everyday, my sins far outweigh my righteous deeds. I have to consciously try to do good,
but I can sin without even knowing it. I have to remind myself to have a good attitude,
but can snap at others without hesitation. Sin is my nature, not righteousness. Now, with Christ's help, and with the work of the Holy Spirit, my good works can and are used for the Kingdom, but they have nothing to do with my Salvation.
Jesus paid it all
ALL to Him I owe.
Who would ever sing:
Jesus paid it some,
Some was Him some me.
Christ has broken Satan's chains
But I must keep myself free.
This sounds absolutely absurd sung out loud, but is the basis of work's righteousness, or "keeping up your own salvation."
Sorry sir but, God is not a monster, He is Just and righteous in ALL His ways. How can you live with the belief that their is nothing you can do for God to bring in souls??
Ask Isaiah.
Isaiah 6: 8-13
Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying:
8 “Whom shall I send,
And who will go for Us?”
Then I said, “Here
am I! Send me.”
9And He said, “Go, and tell this people:
‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand;
Keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’
10“Make the heart of this people dull,
And their ears heavy,
And shut their eyes;
Lest they see with their eyes,
And hear with their ears,
And understand with their heart,
And return and be healed.”
11Then I said, “Lord, how long?”
And He answered:
“Until the cities are laid waste and without inhabitant,
The houses are without a man,
The land is utterly desolate,
12The Lord has removed men far away,
And the forsaken places
are many in the midst of the land.
13But yet a tenth
will be in it,
And will return and be for consuming,
As a terebinth tree or as an oak,
Whose stump
remains when it is cut down.
So the holy seed
shall be its stump.”
Isaiah was told that he would
not reach a single person, and would preach until the land was laid waste. According to you, he should have just not preached? But Isaiah knew that conversion was not his doing;
There is nothing you or I can do to reach another person's heart; you give yourself too much power and far too much credit. You are a sinner; I am a sinner. Neither one of us will ever be able to reach another's heart.
But God can. THIS is the good news of Evangelism;
That GOD SAVES SINNERS, not that my preaching saves sinners. You are attributing their salvation to your good work of evangelism, rather than to God and His grace.
So, how does one "win" souls if all is already said and done??
YOU CAN'T. You and I are utterly and completely powerless to reach souls. The Holy Spirit can, though; and THAT is the true message of the Gospel; that GOD saves sinners, not that my evangelism does.
