The bridge between OSAS and conditional salvation exists!

There has been a huge argument brewing in church circles, and it centers around the doctrines of OSAS vs. conditional salvation. The former believe that once you are saved and believe, nothing, and I mean nothing, can cause you to lose your salvation, even YOU! The other side sees the multitude of warnings, and sees things we are exhorted to DO, and if we do them, taking heed to ourselves, and endure to the end, we shall be saved.

To the OSAS crowd, I agree, we need to be secure in our salvation, and there truly are verses that speak of such a confidence. However, I have never heard any OSAS person adequately explain the multitude of Bible verses that hang conditions onto our being saved.

To these latter ones, let me say this. I agree that there seem to be clear CLEAR warnings, that the OSAS crowd simply ignores. We are told that if we DO these certain things, things, we will never fall. However, think for a minute. Suppose we stop paying heed to the warnings and our heart is hardened a bit. As it continues, we end up over time not repenting “ because now it is no big deal. God’s grace is bigger than my sin, right?” Eventually we can end up not saved at all and miss heaven, correct? So how to we couple this very possible scenario with any security at all? If it is on OUR shoulders to stay saved, first, where is there any security in that, and secondly, how do we avoid becoming legalistic, because it happens all the time?

Some in both camps often say “I KNOW I am saved because the Spirit tells me I am.” Ok,but think about this, no matter where your belief falls. Why is there a seeming insurmountable canyon between these two partially true beliefs? Listen guys, “feeling saved” is not the guarantee we think it is. Heck, most everyone “feels saved”. But...... so did those in the final judgment who said “Lord, Lord.....”, only to hear “I never knew you”. Do we think they knew that was coming? Nope. They were blown away in shock and confusion.

So how do we know we are saved? What is the basis for our confidence? As the Word tells us, we must continue in the faith with clean consciences, and live lives for God. We need to do those things that are pleasing to Him. We need to avoid willful sin as if it is the plague. We are to set our affections on things above, not on things of the earth. We are to repent “IF” we sin(not when), and here is the biggest. We do all these things.....all the way to the end. Scripturally, that is the only true way to know. We endure, seeking His will, not ours.... always.

But think, if this is true, then this is a scary scene, because that means nothing is secure, as we always have to control our “other self”, the black dog, the one who listens at times to the enemy. The Bible calls it our old man, our fleshly nature, who can and will lead us astray if we give him half a chance. . As long as he lives inside us, we remain in danger with no security whatsoever.

So IS there security for us? Absolutely! Where is it found? One place and one place alone. Romans 6, when we put off our old nature by faith, and never let it rise from the grave again. You see, when we finally reckon ourselves dead to sin and alive to Him, when we finally come into agreement with God that we are dead and our life is hid with Him in Christ, and yield ourselves to Him as those who are now alive from the dead, everything changes.

No more is it up to us to keep us from falling, but it is on His broad shoulders. He becomes the one who keeps us from falling, praise God! Now THAT is good news! But you see, the promises God has made to us to keep us from falling, to not let us be tempted above that which we are able to bear, our impenetrable shield of faith, they only works when we are walking in the new man.

Yes, OSAS is true, but only IF we put on our new man, and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof. That is why there are so many arguments between OSAS people and conditional salvational people. There is a razor thin line between these two, and it is called the highway of holiness, where a man, though he be a fool, shall not err therein. There is TOTAL security there. However, as long as we choose to live in our old nature, refusing to believe that God has already made us new people, we give Satan a huge advantage. You see, he still has influence over our old natures. We cannot trust ourselves, if we still have a fight going on between our black dog and white dog. The man with the battle going on inside is not safe.... ever.

Listen, though! Here is the truth that has been hidden from us. Here is the truth we are even now awakening to. We are NOT both black dog and white dog! If we are His, we ARE new creatures, and old things, and the “old us” are passed away. We are not a mixture, trying to get more white and less black over time. But there is something we must do to “activate” this truth in our lives.

And what is this activating ingredient? It is combining the precious blood of the lamb with the words of OUR testimony. It is this act, we are told, that will turn efeated, lukewarm saints into true overcomers in the last days. Guys, WE are the ones they are talking about! It is not a work God asks of us, but rather a leap of faith! We do not look at how much sin we have to still overcome, we do not look at how much fruits we still have to bear to be considered worthy of being called “new creatures”. We believe we are new simply because God tells us we are. And the amazing thing is, when we do activate our new nature, we WILL overcome all willful sin, We WILL become fruitful! How do we know? Because God will do it through us? He is the master potter than changes us into the image of His Son. It is HIs work, and always was!

How important this is, and I pray you see it! You see, unless we align our testimony with this truth, we enable the black dog to live on, and brothers and sisters, I pray you believe me, our black dog, our old nature, cannot be trusted, not for a nano-second.

Blessings,

Gideon

royal priest said:

You raise an important question regarding the state of man's soul. Jesus said we will know them by their fruits. Paul says, 'examine yourselves to see whether you be in the faith' and in another place, 'be diligent to prove that your calling and election are sure.' So, here's the question: At what point can we know if we are saved? How much fruit must one yield before we can say with any amount of certainty 'I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine'?
Consider the parable of the sower. Jesus describes two types of counterfeits. Both of them spring up very quickly. They are green and appear promising, but eventually evidence that the root of the matter did not take deep enough hold into the ground of their heart. For, in one case, the cares of this world eventually overwhelms and withers and scorches the root to death as does the heat of the Sun. In the other case, the Devil comes and snatches away the Gospel seed as a bird does from shallow ground.
I guess the test of time is the only sure fire way to know if we are saved. How do we endure trials? How are we at withstanding the Devil? To Gideon's point, the only safe way is to give due diligence every time the seed is scattered whether at the preaching of the Word or when exercising any of the means of grace. Thus it is vital we take great pains to prepare our naturally shallow hearts for the reception of God's promises. Psalms 126:5-6

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Brother, we can most definitely know that we will endure. There is indeed security. How? If it is God who is the one keeping us from falling, not us.

And how does this occur? When we do as Paul told us to do in Romans 6. We put off our old nature and put on our new one by faith. How? By reckoning ourselves dead to sin and alive to Christ! It is here that we begin our good fight of faith, to the end that we become established in it, unshakeable, immovable. When we walk in our new nature, all the promises God has made about keeping us from falling come into full effect. It is then on HIS shoulders to keep us, not on ours.

This is the second half of the gospel, and even now, He is beginning to awaken us to the full glory of the grace of God, the grace that teaches us the HOW of holiness!

Blessings,

Gideon

royal priest said:

Amen! Like Peter fixing his eyes on Christ, the source of his safety on the wind-tossed sea.

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Better. Where was Peter’s safety...... from the fleshly Peter when he denied he even knew the Lord three times? As long as it is up to us to “keep our eyes on Jesus”, we remain in real danger.

If we have been given spiritual armor, but a traitor lives within it, what good is it? If God promises to make a way of escape when we are tempted, what good is it if there is a part of us, our “dark side” that refuses to take it?

It is like having a chain with each link weighing a hefty 5 pounds, and only one....us.....made of pipe cleaners. Not very secure, right?

No, we need to be IN Christ and Him IN us, For most Christians, we walk in our old nature trying to eventually defeat our black dog, so we can finally be safe. And yet, at the same time, we say that it is really impossible to defeat the black dog in us. We are always sinners, until death do us part, right? Wrong.

We already died, we just do not believe it..... yet. When we do, and combine the blood of Jesus with OUR testimony, overcoming will be our lot..... victory over the world, the flesh and the devil.

Impossible? Ha! Our eyes will witness it....in US!

Blessings,

Gideon