Once Saved, Always Saved Heresy

Once saved, always saved (OSAS)? Hmmm... depends on what you mean by that.

The popular, contemporary doctrine OSAS is far different from the historical doctrine of the Perseverance, or Preservation, of the Saints. Preservation of the Saints is a doctrine that was taught by most classic Bible teachers. For the sake of any reading this who may not know a lot of the backround, or who aren't too familiar with the terminology, I'm gonna keep this simple.

OSAS
This modern teaching, by most of it's adherents it seems, states that a person, upon making a profession of faith, is forever secure. It presupposes that all professions of faith are the genuine evidence of God's re-creating work of the new birth. It assumes that every person who claims they want to "accept" Jesus as their Lord and Savior are infallibly born-again and redeemed. This, brothers and sisters in Christ, is simply not true. If a person is truly born-again the Bible teaches that God will Himself "keep" them by His power (Jude 1:1; 1 Peter 1:5; 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24). This is not the heresy. What is heretical is that many separate this doctrine from it's Biblical context.

Confess and Believe
Typically those who teach this doctrine take Romans 10:9-10 out of it's context. Paul says all a person must do to be saved is confess Jesus as Lord, and believe in their heart that God raised Him from the dead. What they forget, or do not know, is that culturally speaking, a Roman who confessed Jesus, and not Cesar, was Lord, cast a public death sentence upon themselves. The Romans were forced to bow to Cesar and confess him as lord or they would be punished. Christians who refused to do so were tortured, and often murdered. This, being common knowledge, forced a person to "count the cost", as Jesus taught all seekers to (Luke 14), before they insincerely confessed Him as Lord. To confess Jesus (as) Lord must involve repentance. Biblically it involves acknowledging one's sinfullness, and choosing (with all their heart, and as much as is possible in their imperfect state) to part ways with sin.. that they might know God's holiness for themselves.

Some Who Profess He's Lord Will Perish in Hell
Let us also not forget that Jesus refers us to the Judgment seat, in Matthew 7:21-23, where people who unshamedly call Him Lord are cast out of His presence and into eternal weeping and gnashing of teeth. Romans 10:9-10 must be balanced and understood in the context of all of Scripture. To isolate it is to misunderstand it.


The Work of God in His Elect
To separate God's preserving work, in His children's lives, from His sanctifying work, is to misunderstand the saving work of God. In other words, according to the Bible, the evidence that a person is truly born-again is that God is continously at work perfecting their soul. This work is not simply an inner work though, but is evidenced by God-glorifying fruit seen in their lives. The idea that a person can be born-again, and yet continue in a pattern of worldliness and disobedience, is heresy. It is false teaching. And this false teaching is wreaking havok in the church.


Dealing With Men's Souls
When a person lives in sin and negates the things a true Christian loves to do, it is the duty of Christians to warn such a one; to admonish them. But what we shouldn't do is assume that person in saved. When we assume they're saved- whether they're our children, close friend, co-worker, etc.- we will be inclined to go a route that may do them only harm.

An unsaved person needs to understand:
Who God is,
Who they are in light of who God is,
What sin is,
What judgment is,
What Jesus has done for His people,
And what God demands of all people in order to be saved. This is Gospel-preaching 101.

When we approach a person who may have only fooled us into thinking they're saved (and likely fooled themselves), and try to coerce them (a goat) to behave like a sheep, we prevent them from the only power available to liberate them and set them on fire for Jesus... the Gospel. If they have never had a revelation of their own desperate, sinful state; if they know nothing, in their soul, of the holiness and wrath of God; if they believe they're born-again because they mimicked an evangelical rite or "asked Jesus to come into their heart", but have never known repentance of sin, then we do them no good to admonish them as a brother or sister in the faith. We only hurt them.

God Sanctifies His Children
The work of sanctification does not occur in only some Christian's lives. Their exists no justification and assurance of salvation apart from sanctification and growth in holiness. None. The Scriptures speak repeatedly of the marks of a believer:

"If you abide in My Word, then you are My disciples indeed" (John 8:31). To abide is to remain. It's describing perseverance in the study of, meditation upon, and application of the Word.

"The gate is small and the path is narrow that leads to life, and few find it" (Matthew 7:14). The gate is small= faith alone in Jesus Christ alone. The path is narrow= the Christian life is diametrically opposed to the world's way of living. Few find it= those who have entered the gate are known by their being on the narrow path.

"For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son" (Romans 8:29). Really this passage seals the deal. How do we know all Christians will be known by their growth in holiness, which God accomplishes by working in and through us? God has predestined it to be so.

"If anyone be in Christ he is a new creature; old things have passed away, behold all things are new" (2 Corinthians 5:17). This couldn't spell it out better. New creature= new desires, new ambitions, new thoughts, new nature, new path.

Are They A New Creature?
The person who is not a new creature cannot, Biblically, have assurance of salvation. If we help satan in deceiving them into believing they're saved, when they aren't, we dishonor God and His Word. How can we know they're saved? "A tree is known by it's fruits"- that's what Jesus said. Those who are growing in holiness; who are sensitive to sin; who love the Savior; who study the Word... these people, by the Spirit's working in them, will have assurance because they will see the marks of new birth in their lives. And when they doubt, we must encourage them to look to the Savior and His work on their behalf, which includes His sanctifying work in them.

OSAS, as it is taught today, is a perversion of the Scriptures. We should seek to avoid it. It is plaguing many circles in Cristendom, and is bringing blasphemy upon the name of God. How you ask? Because we are telling these goats they're saved because they prayed and asked Jesus into their heart, though there is never Biblical grounds to give such assurance, we have millions naming the name of Christ and living like devils. The world sees it and mocks the church and her God. Such heresy must be purged. And these false converts must be warned, as well as properly instructed in the truths of the Gospel. Jesus said, "Unless a man forsake all he cannot be My disciple" (Luke 14:33). This demand stands today. We can try to alter it, but it will not change reality. We can try to water that truth down, but it will not serve to reach the lost. God will honor His Word preached rightly and in the power of His Spirit. He has ordained to call His elect to Himself through the preaching of the Gospel. If you wish to see the lost converted, look to the means God has given you, and no other. Coercing a goat to act like a sheep does harm to the glory of God. Are you guilty in this matter?

Consider this, those goats people, often church leaders, convince are saved and sealed, are typically living in sin right? Well, this being the case, we should be excercising church discipline if they refuse to repent of their sin/s. This means, if we want to treat them like sheep, we are commanded to judge them and throw them out of the church in hopes that they will repent (1 Corinthians 5:12). Now, if they're admittedly goats, and therefore not numbered with the saints, then our relationship to them as the church would be significantly different. Something to chew on.

Lastly I want to praise God for the revival of sound doctrine in the land. Hearts are being stirred. Fire is burning, the Gospel is being understood and preached, and Jesus is being glorified. Perseverance of the Saints preached in the light of the doctrines of repentance, faith, regeneration, conversion, and sanctification, is a glorious truth to herald! Herald it rightly brethren!

Thomas