No Conscription

In 1863 the United States started consription service, that is what we now call a draft. We know God does not have a conscription army but an army made up enterly of volunteers. But there was another interesting facet of ths draft. You could buy your way out by paying a $300 commutation fee.. Does this remind us of the church of today?

I was hungery and you sent me to a soup kitchen, I was naked and you sent me to a clothes closet, a stranger and you sent me to a homeless shelter. Hiring others to do what God called us to do. I have been to the missions conferences and heard the punch line they give: you cannot be everywhere so I can represent you here…and there and there and there. Do not think that I am condemn giving but it does not replace service.

What did Jesus say to those sheep at His right hand?

Matthew 25:34-40  Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:  (35)  For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:  (36)  Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.  (37)  Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?  (38)  When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?  (39)  Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?  (40)  And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

Christianity is not to be experienced second hand. We are called to be front line soldiers.

Alphabet Soup

OSAS, ESOB, TULIP, and Arminian Theology.It is definatly confusing. I get more emails and questions about this topic than all others combined. Some people are seeking answers, some to justify themselves, some to pick a fight. The question comes down to this: can a saved person ever be lost? Let me give you a brief overview of these four main schools of thought on this topic as I understand them:

Arminian Theology

The Armenian school of thought goes something like this: Once God has saved us we must keep ourselves saved by following the law. If we do not and we sin, we lose our salvation. I have the following questions for those who believe this:

• At what point do you lose your salvation? For this to make sense to me you would have to lose your salvation each time you sin and need to be saved again. You tell a lie, have an adulterous thought, disobey the powers that be by going 26 in a 25 speed zone, oops you lost it and need to be saved again.
• This leads me to my second thought on this topic. if God can save me and not keep me saved, He is not a very powerful God.
• A third thought because of this, does this not make this a works based salvation? (cf Romans 11:6) and cuts us off Christ and fallen from grace (Galatians 5:4)?

TULIP

Sometimes refereed to as the graces of Reformed Theology. The one that pertains to our disussion is the P, perseverance of the saints. The thought that God will keep only the elect (those who Jesus died for, as Jesus died only to save the elect) and keep them till the end so they will be saved.

While I am not a reformed theologian, a friend of mine, Dr. M. Keith Foskey, a local pastor at a reformed church just did an excellent series of sermons on the Graces of Reformed Theology and I encourage you if you are wanting to learn more about them, you can listen to his sermons online here. Or you can visit James White at Alpha and Omega Ministries.

OSAS

OSAS or Once Saved Always Saved is really one of the most damnable heresies to me. It says in brief that once you say a prayer and accept Jesus as your Saviour you can never be lost no matter what you do or how you live. This spits in my Saviours face and tramples His precious blood under your feet if you believe this lie. Here is a hard fact: if you live like the devil, you are going to Hell. This belief twist the trths of Romans 10:9 and 10:13 and ignores other plain teachings of the Bible.

Let me tell you on the authority of the Bible, if you live in sin and you have no conviction, no chastisement then the Word of God calls you a bastard and not a son (see Hebrews 12:5-8).

ESOB

Eternal Security Of the Believer is the last of the four views we will be looking at, and no it is not the same of OSAS, in fact it is a near cousin of Perseverance of the Saints in Reformed Theology. It goes something like this:

Once a person is saved by the grace of God, God keeps him saved, securing his salvation and when a person strays, reaches a difficult point in his life, or has a major decision, keeps him on the right (narrow) path. God does this through the tools of:

• His Peace, which should rule as an umpire in our lives. (Col. 3:15, AMP version) if we do not follow the peace of God then,
• He brings conviction, that feeling of guilt. Do not just ignore this but act on it and repent to God for the wrong. If we do not act upon this, then we are..
• Chastised of God (see Hebrews 12:5-8) to bring the fruit of repentance in our hearts.

In this last passage it tells us if we do not have chastisement of which ALL are partakers we are bastards and not sons. We did not lose our salvation, we never had it. (Remember Jesus in Matthew chapter 7:21-22, He said that He NEVER knew them. Also that the gifts and calling of God is without repentance? Salvation is a gift according to Ephesians 2:8-9, o God is nt an a person that He would renege on His promise).

The difference between this and Reformed Theology is that God is free to save whosoever, and salvation is available to the world, not limited to the elect.

And this is an important difference (to me anyway) between OSAS and the Armenian thoughts about salvation.

• Unlike OSAS, it does not support the abuse of the liberty we have in Jesus Christ.
• Unlike Armenian Theology, the responsability to keep us saved lies with God. God is far more able to keep me saved than I am by my own efforts.

I know I did not use much of the Bible in this post. Each view uses/misuses scripture and has their favorite verses on their own favorite views on salvation and if there is a need to go deeper, if you have questions, I would be happy to try and answer them for you. Just keep e-mailing or posting responses and I’ll try to help. I am hopeful now that you will see what the differences is in each position on this topic and why ESOB just may be the best choice in this confusing alphabet soup.

 

Testimony of The Four

Mark 2:3-4 And they come unto him, bringing one sick of the palsy, which was borne of four. (4) And when they could not come nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered the roof where he was: and when they had broken it up, they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay.

• One sck of the palsy. G3885 paralutikos par-al-oo-tee-kos’; as if dissolved, that is, “paralytic”: – that had (sick of) the palsy.
• Carried by four men upon their shoulders, as if he was a dead on carcass; so weak and enfeebled was he by his disease, that he could not walk, or be otherwise brought; or rather upon a bed, which four men, at the four comers of it, carried in their hands.
• Oh what a picture of the lost! Unable to come to Jesus themselves, paralyzed by sin, they cannot seek God on their own. They are helpless. They need divine intervention or they are hell bound. We that are saved have a call on our lived: to be salt, light, a lamp on the hilltop lighting the way to Jesus in both words and actions. That may mean bringing them to church, opening the Bible and witnessing to them, or praying for them, or whatever.
• They had a mission: their friend needed Jesus and nothing was going to deter them.He could not walk? OK, we will carry him. A large crowd blocking the door. No problem, we will go up the outside staircase to the roof. The trap door is too small for him? Well then we will just make it bigger. (and I can just imagine Peter’s wife sitting next to him during the service already upset about the crowd messing up her house turning to him hissing in a soft but hard voice “they are breaking up the roof!”)
• They would not be deterred. A measure of our character is what does it to stop us? A unkind word, a mocking tone, a mild threat, the phone line being busy once? A few drops of rain?

We need to remember the example of the four, the four friends who realized that there was a need for a touch from Jesus in the life of their friend and would not let him be denied a touch from Jesus.

Excerpt from Healing of the Paralytic | Listen to Sermon