Tell me, who here never sins? Tell me, who among you is perfect after accepting Christ? Do you do every single perfect deed? Do you not even for a moment contemplate anything that could be a sin? Do you never yell? Are you never mean? Do you never lie?
Tell me, who among you is perfect. Who among you is equal to Christ? Who is as righteous as Him? Why would you even need Him if you were?
.
"Faith without works is dead."
Yes you can lose salvation.
You say, "it cannot be a gift if you can lose it by what you do."
Yes it can.
Let me ask you this. If someone gives you a gift, lets say a collectors edition video of your favorite football team's championship season, can you lose it?
Ok, you've got the gift. You didn't work to earn it.
But you know what? If you throw it in the trash, that's the end of it.
You didnt' work to earn it, but you certainly can lose that gift by throwing it away.
If a person comes to the place that they no longer have faith in Christ and what he did at the Cross, they are no longer "saved".
If you are in a shipwreck at sea, and the coast guard comes along and pulls you out of the water, you are "Saved".
However, if you dive back overboard halfway back to shore, your blood is upon you.
2 Peter 2:20For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.
21For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than,
after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. 22But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that
was washed to her wallowing in the mire.
Notice.
1) in verse 20, they had once escaped sin, the "pollutionsof the world" through the knowledge of Lord and savior Jesus Christ.
2) In verse 21, they have known the way of righteousness, but Peter says it was better if they had never known in the first place, because the latter end is worse.
3) verse 22, the sow started out washed, and then went and played in the mud.
Romans 11:19Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in.
20Well; because of
unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear:
21For if God spared not the natural branches,
take heed lest he also spare not thee. 22Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness,
if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.
If OSAS, this parable is meaningless. Why bother warning anyone to "take heed lest he also spare not thee"? If OSAS there would be no reason to "take heed", because there would be no consequence of not taking heed. But there is a consequence, which is being cut off...
1 Timothy 4:1
Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall
depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
You can't depart "the faith" if you were not IN "the faith" to begin with.
2 Thessalonians 2:3
Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a
falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
"Faith only" has never been a biblical doctrine. "Faith without works is dead."
OSAS has never been a Biblical doctrine.
Ezekiel 3:20
Again, When a
righteous man doth
turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumbling-block before him, he shall die: because thou hast not given him warning,
he shall die in his sin, and
his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at thine hand.
Ezekiel 18:24
But when
the righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and doeth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doeth, shall he live?
All his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned: in his trespass that he hath trespassed, and in his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he die.
Ezekiel 33:13
When I shall say to
the righteous, that he shall surely live; if he trust to his own righteousness, and commit iniquity,
all his righteousnesses shall not be remembered; but for his iniquity that he hath committed,
he shall die for it.
Over and over again, the scriptures tell us that a person can be born again, and then end up losing their salvation. They can: turn away, fall away, depart, be cut off, etc.
Remember, these letters are written to believers, not unbelievers.
