Wednesday, July 22, 2009

What Does it Take to be Saved?

1. You must believe and receive the free gift:

Ephesians 2:8
... For by such grace you have been saved through faith.

2. You must abide/remain "in Christ:

John 15 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunesa so that it will be even more fruitful. 3You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
5“I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. 8This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
9“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. 14You are my friends if you do what I command. 15I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. 17This is my command: Love each other.

There is nothing you can do to earn the first part: the free gift, you just believe and receive it. But what about part two, abiding? As it was written here yesterday, the doctrine of devils known as OSAS-once saved always saved makes non-sense out of the bible. The preach all over free gift/grace and completely forget about abiding/remaining "in Christ." Here's another example I'll give you today that proves OSAS to be a demonic doctrine and conversely proves that you must BOTH 1. believe/receive the free gift AND 2. abide "in Christ."

Philippians 2:12Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.

As with the scripture we looked at yesterday, OSAS makes this ^^ statement complete nonsense. How exactly can you "work out" a salvation that is given to you as a free gift if all thats required is a 5 second decision to believe in Jesus? Paul's statement makes no sense if you are taught a "grace only" salvation that OSAS preaches but when you consider the requirement to ABIDE "in Christ" AFTER you have received the free gift, then things make alot more sense.

Again, the scripture below is complete nonsense when you listen to the OSAS-grace alone gospel, but it makes perfect sense when we consider the requirement to ABIDE IN CHRIST to the very end in order to receive our salvation..

Hebrews 3:14 We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first.

How about this one, does it support the requirements to 1. receive the free gift AND 2. abide "in Christ?"

Hebrews 6:12
We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.

You are promised the salvation of your soul IF you 1. believe and receive the free gift, AND 2. abide "in Christ." What does it take to "abide in Christ?" Faith and patience. Does this jive with what we're told about holding firmly to the end the confidence we had at first Heb 3:14? Yep

Does this two component idea jive with anything else we've read in the bible? How about this:

Luke 8:13 Those on the rock are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it (so they satisfy requirement 1-receive the free gift of salvation), but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away (they fail to meet requirement 2. to ABIDE "in Christ")

The "once saved always saved" teacher tells you that Luke 18 is nonsense too. Luke 18 clearly shows us that just like in John 15, someone can be "in Christ" they received with joy the free gift for awhile, but for one reason or another, later they fell away. In John 15, the Father cuts people out of the vine and throws them out to be burned. In Luke 8:13 people fall away of their own accord. Either way, the failed to meet the requirement to abide "in Christ."

Many people are going to find out at the wrong time that everything they've believed has been a lie. They are going to find out the hard way that what was written in John 15, and Luke 8:13 and Hebrews 6:12 and Phillipians 6:12 were meant just as they were written. The bible tells you clearly that you and I are to work out our salvation with FEAR AND TREMBLING. That one statement alone sends the doctrine of demons OSAS crowd into tailspins. Fear? Trembling? Work out my salvation? That's what the bible says.

I'll leave you today with this:

1 Timothy 4:1 But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons,

The bible tells us that in the later times (like..NOW)

some will fall away from the faith (does that mean "saved" when you have "fallen away from the faith?")

paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons,<--isn't this like everything else we observe here where all of you who "go to church" refuse to acknowledge that your pastor/preacher/teacher would ever teach doctrines of demons and the next guy says the same thing and the next guy etc until the whole world has made the bible out to be nonsense? The bible tells us that people WILL fall away from the faith due to these doctrines of demons yet nobody has it happening at their church right?

People take the Word of God WAY too lightly these days. When Paul says we should work out our salvation with fear and trembling he knew something about the God of the bible that most people today don't know. He had a revelation of the holy God who meant every word of what he said to us in the scriptures. This is so serious and yet people refuse to let go of their lies and illusions leading us back to an answer once again of WHY so few will be saved and why this was written: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ 23Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’-Matt 7:21

I am not judging you. If you feel any condemnation from reading any of this it is the Spirit of God working through the Word of God convicting you for what you believe. Read the bible for yourself. Watch your life and doctrine CLOSELY, because if you do you will save yourself and those who hear you...1 Tim 4:16....grace and peace