Not By Works

It's simple.
You get saved the moment you believe.
You remain saved in your believing.
You cease to be saved when/if you stop believing.
You can't arrive at the Judgment in that state of unbelief.
You must still be believing when you get to the Judgment.

The old osas belief, now largely rejected by the church, was that you know you're really saved by if you keep believing all the way to the end (so you won't know if you have really believed until you get to the end).

The new osas belief says you are still saved even if you stop believing.

The Bible says you are saved if you are presently believing. You cease to be saved if you stop believing.

God through Paul says. "Run that you might obtain" in 1 Cor 9:24

Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.

God Himself moved Paul to says, But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.
(1Co 9:27 KJV)

Because God Himself through Paul,"But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents. Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. 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. There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it."
(1Co 10:5-13 KJV)

So let's run RUN, keeping our body under subjection. Not lusting after evil things. Idolaters, eating and and drinking, rising up to play. Committing fornication, tempting Christ, murmuring. Run that we may obtain, lest we be a castaway and be destroyed of the Destroyer having not pleased God. For no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. For it is HE that works in us both to will and do His good pleasure

Jesus told Peter we are not to merely forgive a brother or sister who sins against us seven times, but seventy-seven times. No fixed limit. Since we have been forgiven such an enormous debt of sin against God, how much more should we be eager to forgive those who sin against us. Forgiveness is not to be meted out in a limited fashion but unlimited. The apostle Paul clearly states in Ephesians 4:32 - Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.

I never said that. There is no need for straw man arguments.

In this hypothetical situation in this parable, the unmerciful servant was forgiven of his debt of ten thousand talents.

What do we call it when a person is delivered from condemnation? S-A-V-E-D.

Click to expand...

True, yet that is not the point here with the unmerciful servant. Nothing is mentioned in the parable about the unmerciful servant being saved, then losing his salvation. Forgiveness is being taught here and not type 2 works salvation.

Show me the specific words, he "despised his salvation" or "sanitized saint" in this parable. This is just your biased opinion. In Psalm 37:28, we read - For the Lord loves justice, And does not forsake His saints; They are preserved forever, But the descendants of the wicked shall be cut off. *Was the unmerciful servant called a saint or wicked in this parable? In regards to returning to the vomit and mire, you must be thinking about 2 Peter 2:20.

Those who are truly born of God have received a new nature, a divine nature, and they have new desires. They have been transformed from pigs and dogs into sheep. The change is more than merely cosmetic, as in 2 Peter 2:20. *These cleaned up on the outside dogs and pigs were never sheep.

*Compare 2 Peter 1:4 - "partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption - Strongs #5356 that is in the world through lust with 2 Peter 2:20 - with they escaped the pollutions - Strongs #3356 (different Greek word) of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, yet they are again entangled therein, and overcome. *Notice that 2 Peter 2:20 did not mention them being partakers of the divine nature.

Corruption (Strongs #5356) (to shrivel or wither, spoil , ruin , deprave, corrupt , defile, to destroy by means of corrupting, to spoil as does milk). Corruption - describes decomposition or rotting of an organism and the accompanying stench. The utter depravity of the fallen flesh and the resultant moral decomposition of the world opposed to God is driven by it sinful lusts or evil desires. Internal corruption.

Pollutions/Defilements (Strongs #3393) ("pollutions", "filthy things", "contaminations", "world's filth") describes the state of being tainted or stained by evil and refers to impurity, impure, tainted, defilement, foulness or pollution. Pollutions/Defilement refers to what is on the outside (2 Peter 2:20). But genuine believers have escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust (2 Peter 1:4).

Corruption is deeper than pollutions/defilements on the outside: it is decay on the inside. Having the knowledge of Jesus Christ does not save a person if there is no heart submission to that knowledge. The latter end is worse than the beginning for these pigs and dogs because rejecting this knowledge will make them more accountable at the judgment.

This judgment call is well above your pay grade. You are basically condemning all OSAS believers and you sound very proud and arrogant.

The gospel is the "good news" of the death, burial and resurrection of Christ (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) and is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that BELIEVES.. (Romans 1:16) To "believe" the gospel is to trust in the death, burial and resurrection of Christ as the ALL-sufficient means of our salvation. OSAS has not blinded me from believing the gospel, yet there are numerous people in the NOSAS camp who attend various false religions and cults and trust in works for salvation. For such people, the gospel is hid to them, their eyes are blinded and they do not believe the gospel. People in general who trust in works for salvation do not believe the gospel. As for me, I absolutely DO believe the gospel, so your biased judgment call is unwarranted.

So exactly at what point does God retract His forgiveness in the life of a believer?

At what point does God condemn a person who has been justified, redeemed and cleansed by the blood of the lamb.

Exactly how much unforgiveness must occur in the heart of the justified in Christ for God to change His mind and condemn them.

Be specific because surely God would be clear at what point He is going to place me under condemnation.

You think a loseable salvation is a hidden Gospel... that is hilarious.

If ever there was a narrative that appeals to the carnal, unregenarated mind is a salvation that can be forsaken or revoked ....that is why people which are THE MANY believe it.

It is so hard to let go and just trust God will preserve our bare lives and perfect our conduct, finish what He started... very hard, takes a lot of faith.
"The one who still fears is not being made perfect in love" - paraphrasing John something:something

@soul weaver the belief that God condemns His children after He has forgiven them.... and that salvation is not secure which means it must be maintained appeals to the unregenerated mind because that mind is filled with self righteousness.

It is certainly not filled with the deep humility that grace brings....so yes I stand by my words.

John disproves them... as they still fear losing salvation, they cannot be made perfect in love... it says right there. So it's a simple choice, fear you will fall out of God's hands any moment, or be made perfect in love.
We call God Abba the father now. Child goes after the father. You cannot unfather a child once it's born sooner or later it goes after the father's business and learns from their father.

Amen and Amen!!

But in your theology, the one who stops believing, later repents and turns back to the Lord in belief, cannot be saved even though they now believe. This is the quandary of applying the book of Hebrews to the body of Christ.

You can argue the point all you want, but what you're failing to realize is the parable shows us that God will indeed take back a free gift.

And here's another interesting thing:
God does not seek the works you know of, but wants those you don't know of.

When Jesus talks about separating the sheep and goats, and Jesus proclaims they are awarded for visiting him when He was alone, feeding Him when He was hungry and thirsty, the saints ask Him: "when did we see you naked, and thirsty, and hungry?", etc.
The saints don't even have awareness they did anything.

And this is because this came from of their new natures as God was transforming them. It wasn't a conscious effort, it came naturally like breathing. This is the kind of works they were called the sheep for - the works they didn't know of.

Just a food for thought...

Then it is not a free gift.
Stop redefining words.

You can argue that point all you want, but the free gift of God is eternal life (not temporary life) in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23) The unmerciful servant was wicked and was not a saint who was preserved forever (Psalm 37:28) so there was no free gift to take back. Don't forget. This is a parable, a hypothetical situation to make a point about forgiveness and not losing salvation/type 2 works salvation.

If an ex-believer refuses all of God's efforts to bring them back to faith in Christ He will in fact turn them over to their unbelief and not ever allow them to come back. I think mitigating factors would determine when this turning over occurs. How long did the Galatians have to respond to Paul's plea to come back? We don't know. We just know from Hebrews 6:4-6 that if they didn't, eventually they would not be allowed to come back.

The old osas says the Galatians never really believed to begin with as evidenced by the fact they fell away (the text says they did believe). They had been fake believing all along.

The new osas says they are eternally and forever saved no matter how deep and steadfast and unrepentant they could become in their return to unbelief.

The Bible says God was calling the now unbelieving Galatians back to Himself through Paul who explained to them that they were making Jesus of no effect to them in justification through their rejection of Him. Hebrews 6:4-6 shows us God did not keep that opportunity to come back available to them forever and that at some point in time He made it so they could never come back.

Doesn't sound like "good news" to me either. Sounds like fear and bondage to IN-security, which is no good news at all.

Again with the misapplication of Hebrews to the body of Christ. Why do you insist on forcing Jewish doctrine of the last days on the body of Christ?

Forgiveness is a real thing, even in the parable.
It was given as a free gift.
It was taken back.
Jesus said this is how it is in the Kingdom and how God will treat each one of us under these circumstances.
A free gift in the kingdom of God being taken back.
The very thing osas swears God never ever does.
And so you and 11th hour are going to stubbornly argue that God does not take back free gifts, therefore, it's impossible to lose your salvation.
Amazing.

Did you read Galatians 3 yet?