Message 53: The Possible Reasons For The Confusion Among Christians Who Believe In The 'Once-Saved-Always-Saved' False Doctrine.

– Mark Chen 12-28-2014

The Lord Jesus Christ is encouraging me to post this teaching message as a follow-up to the previous one, where I explained how the 'once-saved-always-saved' (OSAS) doctrine is a false teaching from Satan. This is also a response to a sister-in-Christ, who opposes the content of my previous message. My sincere hope and prayer is that this follow-up message will help to clarify her understanding, as well as those who are unsure about the issue.

The Bible verses that are often quoted by the followers of the OSAS teaching include Ephesians 2:8-9 and Galatians 5:4. However, these verses regarding justification not by works but by faith, through the grace of God, (Ephesians 2:8-9), and not through justification under the law (Galatians 5:4), actually confirm what the Lord has previously explained to us concerning our journey of salvation in Him.

These verses speak about the truth that no one can be justified (declared righteous) before God by good works, as the only way to be justified before God is to confess Jesus as Lord, and believe that God has risen Him from the dead (Romans 10:9-10). 

'Justification by faith' is the first stage of our salvation in Christ (Romans 5:1), and the Lord alludes to this in His reference to Himself as the gate of salvation through which the sheep must enter (John 10:9). 
The second stage of our salvation is the process of 'sanctification by faithful obedience' (John 15:1-4), which Jesus refers to as the 'narrow path of life' (Matt 7:14), which few will find. 
The third stage of our salvation is 'perfection by perservering faithfully and obediently in Christ'. This will only happen for all justified, sanctified believers (both living and dead) on the day of Christ Jesus (Philippians 1:6).

The Lord has revealed to me that many Christians stumble with the biblical teaching of sanctification because they confuse it with the first stage of salvation, which is 'justification by faith in Jesus Christ's atonement for our sins'. These believers often think that sanctification is redundant, because they mistakenly believe that it promotes dead religious works. Is this true? Of course not! We preach salvation by faith in God's gracious gift of His Son, and we teach holiness in our walk with Christ as evidence that we are bearing the good fruit of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). The former is 'justification', and the latter is 'sanctification'.

How do we become fruitful as Christians? It must happen as we crucify the sinful nature of the flesh with its passions and desires, by walking in step with the Spirit of God (Galatians 5:24-26). Is this an automatic process that happens in every believer's life? No, not at all, for the Lord Jesus Himself has made it clear that we can only be fruitful if we remain in Him, and He remains in us (John 15:4). The Father is the Gardener who prunes every branch (born-again believer), so that they become more fruitful, and those who bear no fruit (eg. Christians who want Jesus to save them from their sins but refuse to produce the good fruit of the Spirit by crucifying their flesh daily by His power) will be cut off from the Vine (Jesus Christ). 

This action of being cut off by God from Jesus Christ, the Vine, symbolises the removal of one's lamp stand (Rev 2:5) and the blotting out of one's name in the Book of Life (Rev 3:5). This may not be permanent, as the Lord is willing to reinstate such believers IF they repent and turn back to Him in faith and obedient submission to His sanctification in their lives (Rev 3:19), while they are still alive. 

The fact that we must be willing to produce good spiritual fruit through the Holy Spirit's enabling, and by obeying the Lord's call to crucify our flesh daily by taking up our cross and following Him (Matt 10:38), indicates clearly that we each have to make this personal choice- IT ISN'T AUTOMATIC. That is why the Lord warns us that not all who call Him "Lord Lord" will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, but only those who obey and do His Will in their lives (Luke 6:46, Matt 7:21-23). 

Therefore, we see clearly that sanctification for the believer is not a done deal simply because the person has been justified by faith in Christ, through God's grace. Rather, sanctification is a process that continues for as long as the believer chooses to bear good fruit in Christ Jesus, through the power of the Holy Spirit, and it is a painful process of pruning by the Father (ie. through the trials that God will allow us to go through in our walk with Jesus, for Satan will come against those who desire to obey God, and who strive to bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit), in order that we become even more frutiful as our faith grows and matures in Christ Jesus (Romans 5:3-5). 

Christians who oppose progressive sanctification in Christ often refer to the well-known Bible verses of justification by faith in God's grace in Ephesians 2:8-9, but do they also realise that the next verse (v 10) speaks of the process of sanctification? Verse 10 tells us that God has created us in Christ Jesus TO DO GOOD WORKS, which He has prepared IN ADVANCE for us to do. These good works are the same works that these proponents of the 'once-saved-always-saved' teaching opposes! They are essentially rejecting the truth of Gods Word found in Ephesians 2:10 and elsewhere, which speaks clearly about God ordaining us to produce good works in Christ Jesus, AFTER WE HAVE BEEN SAVED BY GRACE THROUGH FAITH (Ephesians 2:8-9), not before then. 

As much as God wants us to exercise our free will to receive Jesus into our hearts as Saviour through 'justification by faith' in His grace (Eph 2:8-9), He also wants us to exercise our free will to obey Jesus as Lord by choosing to walk in step with His Spirit daily, in order that we bear good fruit, as evidenced by our good works in Christ Jesus (Eph 2:10). This is 'sanctification by willing obedience' to our King, in order that we may show our faith through our works, for faith without works is dead! (James 2:14-26) 

Hence, anyone who believes that we are eternally saved, and can never lose our postition in Christ simply because they believe that they have been automatically and instantly sanctified at the point of 'justification by faith' in Christ (Romans 10:9-10), such a person is not carefully studying the whole counsel of God's Holy Scriptures (Acts 17:11). God has revealed in His Word that sanctification is a lifelong process, and this can only happen by making the daily choice to be sanctified by the Lord. We must choose to obey, and crucify our carnal desires, in order that we can say that it is no longer we who live, but Christ who lives in us (Galatians 2:20). 

Any Christian who insists that he does not need to crucify his flesh daily (Galatians 5:24), but wilfully chooses to live in recurring sin and disobedience is deluding himself. God cannot be mocked, for those who sow to please the Spirit will, from the Spirit, reap eternal life; those who sow to please the flesh will, from the flesh, reap destruction for themselves (Galatians 6:7-8).

With the Lord's gracious help, I have already pointed out evidence of the biblical truth that a believer can lose his or her salvation in Christ through wilful and unrepentant disobedience (eg. Matt 7:21-23, Luke 6:46, Rev 2:4-5, Rev 3:5). We enter into Christ's salvation through faith in His grace alone, but we must abide in Him through willing submission and obedience, before we can be fully sanctified in Him (John 15:1-4). This is what it means to walk in His holiness, for God has commanded us to be holy, just as He is holy (1 Peter 1:15-16). Only then, can we be ready for the perfection of our salvation in the coming Rapture of the holy Bride of Christ. 

It is for this reason that those lukewarm or worldly Christians who are half-hearted about embracing God's sanctification, or reject His purification through His pruning in their lives, will find themselves irreversibly left behind after the first Rapture to enter the Great Tribulation, for they would not be ready for the perfection of their salvation in Christ in the coming Rapture. The sad and simple truth is that no Christian can be ready to ascend to the Lord in the Rapture of His Bride, if they do not fully obey God's command to live a life of holiness in Christ Jesus. 

Is God's grace absent from the process of sanctification then? No, not at all, for it were so, then none of us can be sanctified in Christ. God's grace is freely given to us as we yield obediently to His pruning in our lives, so that we are assured of His forgiveness and cleansing through the Blood of Christ, whenever we stumble and fall into sin (1 John 1:9), in the lifelong process of sanctification.

God knows that we are not yet perfected in Christ, and He knows we will stumble and fall along the narrow path of life, but His all-sufficient grace given to us through His Son, will carry us to our destination -- our perfected salvation in Christ Jesus! (1 John 3:2-3) Hence, those who oppose the biblical truth of gradual sanctification in Christ on the false premise that it promotes religious works, and not God's sufficient grace, is sadly mistaken. For even in the process of sanctification, God's grace is ever-present to help us to attain perfection in Jesus Christ, His Son. Hallelujah!

In conlusion, let us be careful to examine God's Word consistently, dearly beloved (2 Timothy 2:15), for God is not the author of confusion, but of order and peace (1 Cor 14:33a). I pray that this explanation helps you to arrive at a clearer understanding of God's Word on this important aspect of our salvation in Christ Jesus. Let us also pray for those who believe in this devious doctrine, that God will remove the scales from their eyes, and unstop their ears in order that they may see and hear His truth. 

'Awake, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will some on you!' (Ephesians 5:14)

Blessings and Love,
Mark Chen