"For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
Amen
If you think that resting in the finished work of Jesus Christ at Calvary as my only hope of salvation is exalting myself - you are of all men most to be pitied.
Well as it turns out - that is not what I am thinking.
Here is what I am thinking you should be responding to a few of the texts above --
texts that 4 and 5 pt Calvinism does not survive as it turns out.
Rom 2:11 11 For there is
no partiality with God.
Gal 6: 7
Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. 8 For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.
1 John 3: 7 Little children,
let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. 8 He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning
Rom 6: 15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! 16
Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of
sin leading to death, or of obedience
leading to righteousness? 17 But God be thanked that
though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered.
1 Cor 9
23 Now this I do
for the gospel’s sake, that I may be
partaker of it with you.
24 Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain
it. 25 And everyone who competes
for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they
do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we
for an imperishable
crown. 26 Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as
one who beats the air. 27
But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have
preached the gospel to others, I myself should become disqualified.
I'd like to see the whole world in Heaven whether they believed correctly or not.
Rom 2:13-16 says that many who have no access to scripture at all - will be there. And the chapter ends by saying that many who do have access to scripture will not.
I take the same approach with you as I take with the cultists who visit my doorstep. I ask them if they are saved at this minute
how do you think that helps them? Why do you think that those who do not agree with the false doctrine of OSAS don't have assurance right at this minute.
Hint. "The Arminian can know that he is saved - right-at-this-minute, but cannot know that he will continue to choose salvation 20 years from today.....
the 3 and 5 point Calvinist cannot even know that".
The reason being that 3 and 5 point Calvinism "retro-deletes" today's assurance once it can be shown that 20 years from today "you fail to persevere".
Isaiah 5:4 could not exist - were Calvinism true in its arguments against Free Will.
Is 5:4 "
What more could I do that I have not already done?"
Matthew 18 "Forgiveness revoked" and Romans 11 could not exist were OSAS true.
