Vineyards and Presumption

 Today, we’ll treat you with a sermon by Derek Prince, a long-time preacher who started out back in the ‘40s.  He preached all over the world, and wrote 51 books.  This lecture (in 1990) is just excellent Christian doctrine (he died in 2003).  I’ve shortened it a little, but not eliminating his main theme. It is titled, “The Banquet;” it is a study in self-deception and humility.

He begins by saying, This message is a warning; a warning against presumption—presuming on a relationship with God that you don’t actually have.  This discussion will be based on a parable about banquets.

But first we lay the groundwork in Matthew 21:33-46:

There was a certain landowner who planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a winepress in it and built a tower. And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country. ³⁴ Now when vintage-time drew near, he sent his servants to the vinedressers, that they might receive its fruit. ³⁵ And the vinedressers took his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another. ³⁶ Again he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did likewise to them. ³⁷ Then last of all he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ ³⁸ But when the vinedressers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.’ ³⁹ So they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him. “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vinedressers?” ⁴¹ They said to Him, “He will destroy those wicked men miserably, and lease his vineyard to other vinedressers who will render to him the fruits in their seasons.” ⁴² Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:

‘The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This was the Lord’s doing, And it is marvelous in our eyes’?

⁴³ “Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it. ⁴⁴ And whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder.” ⁴⁵ Now when the chief priests and Pharisees heard His parables, they perceived that He was speaking of them. ⁴⁶ But when they sought to lay hands on Him, they feared the multitudes, because they took Him for a prophet.

The landowner rented out his vineyard to others.  He expected them to bring some of the fruit as payment for the use of the vineyard.  They refused, and this describes how the landowner dealt with them. The listening Pharisees perceived, correctly, that the rebellious renters were them.  The renting vinedressers assumed they could take over ownership of the vineyard for themselves.  They didn’t realize that they were only stewards, appointed by the owner, and they had an obligation to him.  The real issue, too, is the issue of fruit.  The vineyard is for those who bring forth the fruit.  Jesus was really telling people that if you don’t bring forth the fruit that God requires, the fruit of righteousness, the fruit of faith, the fruit of mercy, God will remove you from His vineyard and give it to another nation (v.43).

Thinking of the Jews, the Greek word for “nation,” ethnos, is normally translated “Gentile,” or non-Jews. The Hebrew word is “goyim.” The Hebrews tended to look down on the goyim, the non-Jews.  So when Jesus effectively said, “You Jewish people are in danger of losing your inheritance.  This vineyard God has provided for you, already planted, and all ready to bring forth fruit—if you don’t bring forth the fruit, if you don’t give God the fruit that is His due, God will take it from you and give it to a Gentile nation.” (PS:  Mr. Prince did not believe in Replacement theology—another blog forthcoming).  These were terrible words for Jewish ears; considering all their special privileges and background God had bestowed upon them. They couldn’t conceive that they would lose their privileged position.

Mr. Prince cautioned that he did not believe that Jesus’ word “nation” refers to a specific country; the nation is God’s Kingdom, His saved people. He has a kingdom all over the world.  Consider the Scripture that says, paraphrasing, “You are a holy nation, a special people, a people that belong to God” (I Peter 2:9, written to all believers).

The problem with the Jews of that time period, especially the leaders, the Pharisees, was that they presumed that they had a special relationship with God, but actually, by their behavior, they forfeited their inheritance.  They presumed because of thinking of their background.  For 14 centuries, they had been a privileged people.  They had the Law, the Temple God designed, the prophets, the only priesthood God had blessed.  All true, but men’s hearts, receiving all this, become presumptuous.  They take these things for granted. In subsequent years, God did exactly what Jesus warned them He would do. He gave the Kingdom of God, through the evangelistic message, to the Church (not speaking of Catholics, but His people everywhere).  A new part of God’s “nation” began.

And then Jesus reminded them that this forfeiture had been predicted, through their own prophets. Verse 42 is a quote from Psalm 118.  (Yes, David was also a prophet). The ‘stone which the builders rejected’ meant He was the Stone, rejected by most Jews. Then He said, Whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder.  This meant, “You builders may reject Me, but I Am the chief cornerstone, and the whole building is built on Me.  There are two ways you can respond to This Stone:  You may fall on the Stone, that is, kneel in repentance, and cry out to a holy just God for mercy from your sin.  You will receive mercy.  You ‘will be broken’ means your pride, your arrogance, your religious assumptions will all be smashed—but you will be saved.  But if you refuse to bow before This Stone, refuse to humble yourself, refuse to acknowledge your need for God’s mercy, the Stone will fall on you—and crush you to powder.  It will destroy you.

So you can find mercy through brokenness, or you can be crushed in divine judgment.  There are only two ways that anybody can respond to Jesus.  A lot of people don’t want to make a commitment, but they don’t want to be accused of rejecting.  They feel they can best get along with neutrality.  But Jesus never offers that as a third way.  He said “He that is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad” (Matt 12:30).

So I ask you, search you hearts:  where are you in your relationship with Jesus Christ?  Don’t presume; you may have a Christian background, you may even know a lot about the Bible.  But that’s not the question.  If you’re with Him, you’ll be gathering fruit, or serving Him, doing what He commands. Or you’re against Him, whether you know it or not; and your activities are as wasteful as scattering abroad. They are being used on things that have no permanent value.  You’re missing the privilege of investing in the kingdom of God.

History records the tragedy of those Jewish people. They presumed that which they didn’t have—a relationship with God.  If they had that, they would not be a part of the killing of God’s Son.  (But God had planned ahead for that).  Remember, privilege should be taken with humility.  We do not deserve the extra blessings. It is supposed to also confer responsibility; Jesus said “to whom much is given, much shall be required” (Luke 12:48). The more privileges we receive (ed. I’m thinking of the United States), the more God expects of us. Mr. Prince launches into a praise of many people in nations that have little to start with, but they become mighty witnesses for Him—they generate much fruit for God.  They are hungry for His Word, and love to pray, and stay long at church.  They are excellent vinedressers.  They do not waste “endless hours before a television set.” (We needs to update for “iphone and social websites”).  We need to exchange that time for Bible study and prayer.  You’ll be surprised how you grow spiritually.  In churches where there were honest times of prayer, many sins were confessed, including adultery, fornication (sex though single), but the worst was idolatry—the idol is most often the TV!  Remember the warning that God led Paul to write in II Corinthians 5:10 about our accountability to God for our behavior:

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

Now Mr. Prince moves on to the banquet parable. Matthew 22:1-14:

And Jesus answered and spoke to them again by parables and said: ² “The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son, ³ and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding; and they were not willing to come. ⁴ Again, he sent out other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and fatted cattle are killed, and all things are ready. Come to the wedding.” ⁵ But they made light of it and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his business. ⁶ And the rest seized his servants, treated them spitefully, and killed them. ⁷ But when the king heard about it, he was furious. And he sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. ⁸ Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. ⁹ Therefore go into the highways, and as many as you find, invite to the wedding.’ ¹⁰ So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good. And the wedding hall was filled with guests. ¹¹ “But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment. ¹² So he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. ¹³ Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ ¹⁴ “For many are called, but few are chosen.”

The king is God the Father; the son was Jesus. He was to be married to His bride, which is the Church, the saved of all humanity.  The Jews were the first to receive the invitation for the wedding. This invitation and conditions of it, were made most clearly by the previous prophets, who pled with them to the sacrifices and cease their sin so they could attend the wedding. But the Jews refused, and even killed God’s prophets.   Mr. Prince asserts that verse 7 has been fulfilled in the Jewish nation in 70 AD, when the Roman army killed a million of them and destroyed the Temple.  The wedding had to be postponed, until new invitations were sent out—this is referring to bringing the Gospel to the Gentiles.  (The church age, which we are now in, was hidden from the Old Testament, since that volume was about the Jews). Jesus gave the order of Gospel rollout in Acts 1:8:

But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Note the Gospel goes to the Jews’ prime city, then to the two Jewish nations (Israel was split in two after a dispute with Solomon’s son).  Finally it includes Gentiles, both “bad and good.”  Interesting that the “bad” is put before the “good.” Mr. Prince knows that people who were “bad” in the past, get invited into the Lord’s kingdom—he was one.  Many times, the “bad” accept the terms of the invitation before the “good.” Jesus said to the religious rulers in Matthew 21:31:  tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God before you! Why? The religious people have a hard time dealing with the humility required to gain God’s invitation because they think that they are good enough already. If God has blessed us financially and physically, that means we are bound for heaven forevermore, right?  No. In verse 11, the king is suspicious because a guest at the wedding did not have on a wedding garment.  In that culture, the Inviter provided you with the appropriate garments to wear.  The wedding garment means that if we live for Him, He will award us clothing of the righteousness of Christ. Isaiah 61:10 says:

I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, My soul shall be joyful in my God; For He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness…

God, the great Inviter, clothes us with Christ’s garments, and thus His righteousness is imputed (transferred) to us.  The transfer, or imputation, is on two levels.  Not only are we clothed with the righteousness of Christ, but secondly, God amazingly imputed (transferred) our sin onto Christ.  The double imputation was so we can be righteous in Christ, and the Father can be holy by punishing sin (on Jesus), so He can accept us despite our sin. That’s why Jesus died.   That is atonement.  II Corinthians 5:21 puts it so well:

For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Meditate on it.  Think of the Love that God had to give His Son, to gain poor old us for fellowship.  Think how lavish His love is, that better, sweeter things are still before us in heaven.  But God doesn’t do this if we have no relationship with Him. Think of His fierce Justice; if we ignore this, the horrors of hell await us. That's clear in v. 13 above.  For this man not clothed in Jesus' righteousness, he was in improper wear; he should have understood that the Father would question.  But he was shocked speechless at the question.  His problem was, he presumed that he was invited. He presumed, and never thought that he would not be given a pass.  He underestimated God’s Justice, or didn’t understand the Word.  Note the importance of this wedding, it was to get to be with Christ in heaven.  So to "sneak in" will be  treated with intense severity.  The importance of obeying the rules of invitation cannot be underestimated; he was bound hand and foot (in public), and cast into outer darkness.  The phrase “weeping and gnashing of teeth” says he was consigned to hell. Jesus was saying, in effect, that God extends the invitation, which is the marriage of Jesus, to all who are properly saved (by faith and by fruit from relationship, as we saw above.  You cannot be in heaven and ignore His commands while you live on earth.  Our righteousness doesn’t cut it.  Only His righteousness.  That offer will see if you are humble in the Lord to accept those terms.  What is your relationship with Jesus the Christ?  Your answer to that tells whether you get an invitation to heaven for the wedding to His Son.

 

 

 

 

 

 

How Long Do Christians Have to Suffer in the Great Tribulation?

 The order of End Times events we left off Part II was: Deception, wars, famine (these 3 are called “the beginning of sorrows”), then the abomination of desolation (perhaps an idol glorifying the antrichrist) in the holy place (i.e., in Jerusalem's rebuilt temple), then the tribulation with death and martyrdom of Jews and Christians. Then the cosmic disturbance, blackening the sky, then the sign (like bright lightning), then His Coming in the clouds, visible to all, with angels blowing the trumpet. Believers are rescued, gathered in the sky—and then on the same day, the Day of the Lord’s wrath on the rest begins.

Now other questions arise: “How long do all these End Time events take? How long will the tribulation—the death and martyrdom--be? What event triggers these horrors?” The answers to those three questions are in Daniel 9:24ff:

 

“Seventy ‘sevens’ are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression... 25 “Know and understand this: From the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven ‘sevens,’ and sixty-two ‘sevens.’ It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble.26 After the sixty-two ‘sevens,’ the Anointed One will be put to death and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed. 27 He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’ In the middle of the ‘seven’ he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And at the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.

Very difficult verses, but here are likely the main points:

a. Since the word "seven" (an accurate NIV translation of the Hebrew) isn't "seven what," we will change the word “seven” above  into “seven years,” and you'll see why. Follow that assumption below and you'll see what I mean:

 

b. To explain (a): the span of time from the command to “restore and build Jerusalem,” until “the Anointed One” (the Messiah, Jesus), was prophesied to be "seven sevens," or, we're saying, 7x7 years=49 years, plus"62 sevens," 62x7 years=434 years.  So the total is 49+434=483 years. That is Daniel's prophecy.  For you to see the miracle of this prophecy, we have to go further:  These are Hebrew years, of 360 days each. To translate it to our years, with leap year every four years, we measure a real year as 365.24 days. So converting Jewish calendar to our calendar, we simply do 483 times 360/365.24 and get 476 of our years. So 483 Hebrew years is 476 of our years, being predicted for the span of time between those events. (I.e., the years between the order to rebuild Jerusalem and the Anointed One.)

c. As it turned out, the 476, if stated in years, the prophesy was dead-on, which is why "seven years" fits for the unexplained Hebrew "sevens." This 476 years is based on the following:  The actual command to restore Jerusalem happened under the Persian emperor Artaxerxes, in 444 BC. Jesus, the Anointed One, died (as proven on another blog I have) in 33 AD. Keep in mind, you only count a year from 1 BC until 1 AD (there was no “year zero,” so you lose a year in the count. So the span of time goes like this: Adding 444 BC to 33 AD, minus 1, you get—476! As Daniel prophesied! Well, why should we be surprised—that’s the way God does it.

d. As you may have noticed, only 69 (7+62) of the 70 required “sevens,” or 7-year periods (see Dan. 9:24), of Jewish suffering has happened already. Only 483 of the required 490 Hebrew years. So the 70th seven-year period has not happened yet. So it makes sense to assume the last 7 years prophesied is still in the future. (The phrase “Anointed One will be put to death”—verse 26--suggests a stop to the counting of years at 33 AD, with the final seven reserved for the future--we're assuming that). I’m also suggesting (with proof for this idea, below) that the six events, or “seals,” we’ve talked about in Revelation 6 and confirmed in Matthew 24 (deception, wars, famine, death, martyrdom, rescue), are all in the future, and will take 7 years to happen—so you can see why we make it the 70th “seven.” I’m finally suggesting (with more proof below) that the last 3 seals last for half the seven years, or 3-1/2 years. That means, of course, that the tribulation (seals 4 and 5—death and martyrdom) are in those last 3-1/2 years, before Christ comes again in the 6th seal.

 

What is my proof for these claims? Let’s start with the “ruler who will come," under whose orders "his people---will destroy….the sanctuary” (v. 26). That can’t be speaking of Jesus, who doesn't destroy His sanctuaries. It’s talking of the deceiver, the antichrist, who is trying to take His place as God. (See Revelation 13:4-8 for proof of his great military power, influence, and blasphemy.  He probably gained his status from his victories in the Wars--Seal #2).   He will “confirm a covenant” (v.27), presumably with the Jews, to protect them as he pretends to be their friend (that's his deception). This will happen at the beginning of the seventieth 7 years, since he covenanted with the Jews “for one seven” (v.27), a 7-year covenant. But then “in the “middle of the seven” (v.27), or after 3-1/2 years, he breaks the covenant, doing sacrilege (an “abomination,” as Daniel 9 calls it--perhaps an idol in the Holy Place), thus revealing his true nature as an enemy of Jews. He thus is a deceiver, II Thessalonians 2:3-4.  Jesus then warned Jews to run for their lives when they see this blasphemous abomination--he will do something really terrible, possibly erecting a statue of himself in the temple, or sacrificing a pig on the altar (Matthew 24:15-16). Now you can easily assume that the antichrist will spend the last 3-1/2 years, from the middle to the end of the 7 years, hunting and killing Jews and Christians. See Rev. 13:7 for proof of Christians being involved:

It was granted to him (the antichrist) to make war with the SAINTS and to overcome them. And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation.

 

There is NO Scripture that limits the word "saints" to Jews. Saints always refer to any and all of God's children.  Since there was no previous rapture, the saints living at the time have to go through the tribulation--as we have proved in other ways.

Proof of the second 3-1/2 year time period is how it is prophesied in several Biblical passages. It’s variously called “time and times and half a time” (which is 3-1/2 times), it's called “42 months” and “1260 days,” all meaning 3-1/2 years (these references are in Rev. 11:2,3; 12:6, and 13:5, and Daniel 7:25). That’s the length of the Death and Martyrdom —and the length of the tribulation (the Tribulation is not 7 years, it is 3-1/2, read Jesus' words in Matthew 24). This perfectly proves our prior idea that the whole time period is 7 years.  As you can surmise, the first 3-1/2 years of the 7 year period was the deception period, the wars, and the famine. Then is the antichrist's unveiling as our enemy in the middle. Since the antichrist boasts that he is God (Rev. 13:6), he gets his commands from Satan, and we can fairly presume he was probably the biggest reason for those first three seals, or disasters, too. As we pointed out before, Revelation 12:2 shows how Satan will be enjoying himself causing such grief and death.

In summary:  For the first 3-1/2 years he makes a peace pact with the Jews, pretending to be their friend. But then he makes war, consolidating his power. War's destruction helps bring on famine. Then in the middle of the 7 years, he does sacrilege, the abomination, and reveals himself as their (and saints') enemy, then in the last 3-1/2 years--the tribulation--he goes all-out to kill all Jews and Christians. Don't forget, this order of events is proven in Matthew 24 AND Revelation 6 (see Part II). After all that, at the end, the rapture saves remaining genuine Christians from physical death and the wrath of God is reserved for those who have ignored God and ignored His laws.

If you have not made Jesus the whole of your life, if you do not love Him for paying for your sin, and given your life to His care and rely on His comfort through the Holy Spirit, do it now.  Read the Gospels, where Jesus lays it all out plainly.  Or read my blogs on the subject.

 

Jesus, in Matthew 24:15-21, clearly says the antichrist’s revealing himself (which is in the middle of the 7 years) begins the tribulation.

 

“Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,' spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand), 16 “then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains… 21 For THEN there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be.

 

Thus, to repeat this for emphasis, the real tribulation is not 7 years, but only the latter 3-1/2 years. This latter period is also called “travail” in Rev. 12:2. Also, this is not God’s wrath, and also remember, Christians go through the tribulation, see Parts I and II in my blogs of the two weeks for more proof of that.

 

Some interesting additional facts: In the tribulation will come the most audacious move of the antichrist’s reign. He will evidently have the world’s worship and control of the world’s money system—because he will implant, on the hands/foreheads of everyone who submits to him, a “mark.” Thus, buying or selling food, etc. is impossible unless you submit to his lordship and receive the mark (Rev. 13:16-17). Let us never submit to that, because as an angel will warn everyone (Rev. 14:9-11), anyone who thus submits to the antichrist WILL WRITE HIS OR HER TICKET TO HELL:

 

Then a third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, 10 he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. 11 And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.” 

 

You may ask, cynically, "If I want to follow God and reject the mark, will God "reward" me by allowing me to starve?" or "Will God send me to hell for eternity just because I wanted food, and took the mark?" I'm betting God will show many of His faithful ones a separate way to get food. Maybe even by miracles. Waiting out starvation, exercising this kind of resolve and faith will be challenging for Christians, but saving your soul will be definitely worth it. Yes, in saving your soul, your body may be martyred. Yes, there will be many who will be weak and fall away. (II Thess. 2:1-4). Do not join them! You must endure to the end to be saved! (Matthew 10:22).

 

Another interesting additional fact: Two "witnesses" (maybe Elijah and Moses) will appear for the last 3-1/2 years, prophesying God's truth and performing miracles (Rev. 11:3,5-12), such as fire from their mouths destroying their enemies, stopping rain from falling, and rising from the dead.

 

***So here is our final course of events: At the very beginning of the 7-year End Times, Antichrist makes a covenant to protect Israel, deceiving the world--and the Jews. This begins Daniel’s 70th 7-year period. First 3-1/2 years are the “beginning of sorrows:” Deceit by the antichrist, Wars, and Famine. Then the antichrist desecrates the holy place in Jerusalem, reveals himself as an enemy of Jews and saints, and we begin the last 3-1/2 years, the tribulation, the “travail”: Death and Martyrdom of Jews and Christians. The antichrist institutes a mark--you must worship him to buy or sell. Two witnesses speak up for God and perform miracles. Then at the end of the 7 years, we have the cosmic disturbance, and the Coming, which is: the sign (bright lightning), then His appearance in the skies with angels blowing the trumpet, believers rescued, they are gathered to be with Him. On the same day, then the Day of the Lord’s wrath begins on the unsaved.

 

Let’s say this one more time: As you can see, from our three-week analysis: (1) the tribulation is not the same as God’s wrath; and (2) Christians are not raptured until the end—we have to endure the tribulation. Many of them will die first. (3) Saved people (rescued) and unsaved people (wrath) are dealt with on the same Day of the Lord—there is no one “left behind.” Other theories some theologians give are popular simply because they say just what you want to hear, as II Timothy 4:3-4 says:

 

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers;4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.

 

The most popular alternate theory is the pretribulationist, or “pretrib” theory—that Christians are raptured before the tribulation. Escaping such devastation sounds so nice. But don’t fall for this; as this 3-part study proves, the order of events is otherwise. Read the Scriptures yourself. (Consider this too: The pre-trib theory feeds an “AWOL” mentality; see my comments in part I). Even their best pre-trib mind, John F. Walvoord, from Dallas Theological Seminary, admits their theory is shaky and has no real Scriptural proof. In his book, The Rapture Question, page 16 and 148, he says: “Neither posttribulationism nor pretribulationism is an explicit teaching of the Scriptures…it is therefore not too much to say that the rapture question is determined more by ecclesiology (what different church denominations believe) than eschatology.” (Wait a minute…this is supposed to be a study of eschatology--a study in the future! Mr. Walvoord, you’re admitting you can’t find Scriptural support in future studies?) Richard Mayhue, also a proponent of the pretrib view, told the Grace Theological Seminary “perhaps the position of pretribulationism is correct although its proof at times has been logically invalid or at least unconvincing.”

 

And all the pre-tribbers say, “Thanks for the support.”

 

Let’s believe the Bible, not theological suppositions which have as their highlight, that you can escape suffering. After all, Jesus and Paul said we would suffer for Him (Romans 8:17, among many others).

End Times Part II--God's Wrath and Tribulation are Not the Same Event

 In Part I last week, we showed the End Times chronology had this order of events: 

Deception, wars, famine—called “the beginning of sorrows”—then the “abomination of desolation” (blasphemy performed by antrichrist) in holy place (that means in Jerusalem's restored temple), then the tribulation, consisting of systematic death and martyrdom of Jews and Christians, then cosmic disturbance; then on the same day, Jesus appears, a rescue (rapture) and then Day of the Lord’s wrath. We spent time proving, Scripturally, that Christians do not get raptured, have to live through the tribulation. Today, that point gets further proof. 


1. Let’s take a closer look at Jesus’ Olivet discourse in Matthew 24:27ff: 


"For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be… 29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven... 30 Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31 And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.


What Jesus is saying is, immediately after the tribulation (v.29), here’s what happens: first the cosmic disturbance (v.29) prophesied in Joel 2 (See Part I). It has completely blackened the sky—everywhere--so that then can be clearly visible a sign, like a huge bolt of lightning stretching from the earth’s east to the west--this would be visible in all the world. This rivets everyone’s attention upward—and then will appear our Lord, in glory, visible to all--it is His return. The first event of that return is the rapture, with angels and trumpets to gather His children (though it’s not mentioned until v. 31, see Part I for proof of this order); Jesus has come to rescue righteous men. But His coming, secondly, is to judge disobedient men (as intimated in v.30 with the word “mourn.” More on that later). Thus, five events happen on the Day of the Lord, in order, from these verses and in Part I: Cosmic disturbance blackens the sky, then lightning or a highly visible sign showing the Lord’s appearing in the sky, then the rapture, and the mourning of rebellious men who know judgment is coming.


2.Note the details of the rapture, vv.30b-31: (a) Jesus appears on the clouds of heaven in visible glory, and can be seen by all in a blackened sky lit up by huge sign--thus there is no secret rapture; (b) angels will sound a trumpet; (c) His elect (genuine Christians) will be gathered “from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other;” i.e., in the air. 


3.For anyone who would argue that Matthew 24 isn’t the rapture, look at I Thess. 4:16-17, which all acknowledge are rapture verses: 


For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. 


Note the important events: (a) Jesus appears from heaven, with some noise--a shout and the voice of an archangel--so there is no secret rapture; (b) angels blow the trumpet; (c) believers are gathered in the sky, to meet the Lord in the air. Note that these are the very same critical three elements as Matthew 24:30b-31. Is this not the SAME EVENT? Of course it is. Thus Matthew 24 presents the Rapture.  


4.***Now the order of End Times is: Deception, wars, famine, then the abomination of desolation (antrichrist's blasphemy) in the holy place, then tribulation--systematic death and martyrdom of Jews and Christians, and then—on one day--cosmic disturbance blackens the sky, then the sign (like bright lightning, seen by all), then His Coming in the clouds with angels blowing the trumpet, believers rescued, gathered in the sky—and on the same day, other people mourn, the Day of the Lord’s wrath begins on them (more on that wrath later).


5. Now let’s spend some time on a second proof of this order of events.As you will see, this will confirm the Matthew order. In Revelation 6:1-11, the order of the seals 1-5 correspond exactly to the same five events in Matthew 24 (read Part I for more). Here are the Revelation verses:


Now I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals; and I heard one of the four living creatures saying with a voice like thunder, “Come and see.” 2 And I looked, and behold, a white horse. He who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer. 3 When He opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, “Come and see.” 4 Another horse, fiery red, went out. And it was granted to the one who sat on it to take peace from the earth, and that people should kill one another; and there was given to him a great sword. 5 When He opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come and see.” So I looked, and behold, a black horse, and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand. 6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not harm the oil and the wine.” 7 When He opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, “Come and see.” 8 So I looked, and behold, a pale horse. And the name of him who sat on it was Death, and Hades followed with him. And power was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword, with hunger, with death, and by the beasts of the earth. 9 When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. 10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” 11 Then a white robe was given to each of them; and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer, until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed.


6. In verse 1 we have seal 1, with the white horse. The rider has a crown, and goes forth conquering. If you think this is Christ, you are deceived—this Greek word for “crown” (v. 2) is “stephanos.” But the Greek word for the crown Christ wears is “diadema,” for kingly or imperial dignity. Stephanos, on the other hand, is given for triumph in the games or for military prowess—it is a garland of oak, ivy, parsley, myrtle or olive. The wearer is an aggressive conqueror, not a king. The crown-wearer of verse 1 wants us to think he is Christ, but he isn’t. Thus seal 1 is deception.


7. Seal 2, the red horse, is clearly wars. Seal 3, the black horse, where they are carefully handling and measuring expensive food, suggests famine. Seal 4, the pale horse, is death. The seal 5 refers to martyrs. Now turn back to Part I’s analysis of Matthew 24:5-9—the order is the same! Revelation 6 and Matthew 24 refer to the same events!  Deception, wars, famine, death, and martyrs is the order in both.


8. Now observe how these two sections of verses, the same thus far, suddenly part in how they detail seal 6: Matthew 24:30-31 (see #1 above) gives us the rapture, and only hints at the wrath of God (it just gives you the word “mourn.”) Since we’ve looked at Revelation 6:1-11 in seals 1-5, let’s see how Revelation 6:12-17 handles the sixth seal. This seal begins with our familiar cosmic disturbance--a further proof that these are the same events as Matthew, since Matthew also has that. But Revelation 6 details the judgment, the second part of the Day of the Lord, skipping the rapture. Whereas Matthew 24 detailed the rapture, and only hinted at the judgment (“mourn”). Here’s Rev. 6:12-17's key phrases:


I looked when He opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood. 13 And the stars of heaven fell to the earth…. 15 And the kings of the earth, the great men…every slave… hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, 16 and said to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! 17 For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?” 


Please note v.17! God’s wrath, even at the 6th and last seal, is only set to BEGIN—yet this is AFTER the tribulation, seals 4-5, as our Matthew 24 study in Part I also outlined. Thus, we conclude the following:  Matthew 24, after tribulation, details the rapture, and hints at the wrath. Rev. 6, on the other hand, also after tribulation, details the wrath, not the rapture. The solution to this “controversy” is simply to put both events—rapture and wrath—after the tribulation, at the same day. Both these sections of verses talk about these events—they just each emphasize a different one on the final Day.


Now let's re-emphasize some important points for those "pre-tribbers" to chew on:  

9. Clearly, after reading the previous note and Revelation 6 and Matthew 24, the tribulation is NOT the wrath of God.  Actually, the tribulation is the wrath of Satan, per Rev. 12:12, as we proved in Part I. 


10.Here's another proof that the tribulation is not the same as the Day of the Lord.  In the tribulation, Satan is having a field day through his antichrist, killing Jews and Christians. But the wrath of God is different: In His wrath (particularly seen in Revelation 8 and 9), only the person of God is mentioned. He does not allow Satan to strut his stuff like the antichrist does who dominates the scene in the tribulation. Proof of this differing emphasis is found in Isaiah 2:11-Let's see what it says about the wrath: 


The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, The haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, And the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day. 12 For the day of the LORD of hosts Shall come upon everything proud and lofty, Upon everything lifted up—And it shall be brought low. 


The image we get for the wrath of God in the Day of the Lord is this: unanswered destruction which centers only on God, glorifying His holy nature and cleansing the earth. That’s not the tribulation, where Satan is having a gay old time sticking it to the saints. The wrath and the tribulation are just not the same event. As we have abundantly shown, the wrath of God is after the tribulation, after the rapture. As we have shown you here and in Part I, you have the tribulation, then on the day of the Lord, you have the rapture, then the wrath of God. 
NEXT WEEK: HOW LONG IS THE TRIBULATION? God's Word is abundantly clear on that, too.

The Flaws in the "Once Saved, Always Saved" Argument Part 1

 The “once saved, always saved” doctrine says: Once you accept Christ, and put your faith in Him for salvation from sin, you’re saved—permanently. Nothing you can do will break that bond. The doctrine began with Augustine, a Catholic theologian, but really got propagated under John Calvin in his famous treatise, Institutes. He asserted that man is totally depraved, i.e., unable to reach for God. But God, not because of anyone’s merits, arbitrarily chose certain people to be saved (and others, not chosen, to be damned forever). His theology was opposed by Michael Servetus, another theologian, who believed that man has the ability and the free will to choose God or not choose God. He is not predestined to hell or heaven before he is even born, which is what Calvin was saying. When Servetus studied the Institutes, and returned the book to Calvin, he wrote marginal notes criticizing certain points. Calvin, with his own monumental ego and pride, determined that Servetus was now a dead man, since Calvin believed (and said so) that God moved him to write what he wrote. So as soon as Servetus naively arrived in Geneva, where Calvin ruled, Calvin gave the go-ahead to burn him at the stake. A horrible death. No trial. Today we would call that "conspiracy to murder." As far as we know, Calvin never repented of that despicable act. Do unrepentant murderers go to heaven? No, as Scripture clearly points out. So the “once saved, always saved” doctrine not only sets forth God as capricious, but the doctrine's founder became an unsaved murderer.

Now let’s talk about today. The raw edges of this doctrine are kept out of public view.  But Once saved always saved (OSAS) adherents and new converts are still reassured many times of their salvation once they make that leap of faith.  That leads to a big problem—complacency. It’s an unavoidable theory that many of them unconsciously gradually assume that sinning, even serious sinning, is not a thing to be worried a lot about. They may say, yes, I may lose fellowship with God, and I may lose some rewards in heaven—but I will still go to heaven, which is the big thing I get to keep--because God in His Word has promised, that once I was saved, I’m always saved. No sinning that I do will keep me from heaven. Doesn’t that seem like a definition of complacency to you?

But the whole doctrine of OSAS is wrong Scripturally as well. The Bible speaks clearly that you must abide in Christ and pursue righteous behavior, or you will lose your salvation. A lot of people would be less confident and more careful of their behavior (and less deceived about their eternal destiny) if they knew this. Of course, we can’t conclude a doctrine is wrong simply because some people are prone to complacency; that could be said about many religious doctrines. To prove a doctrine is wrong, you need Scripture. So let’s get to it.

Let’s go the hard way: we’ll cover some favorite OSAS verses, their “proof texts” that are numbered below—and explain how they don’t quite say what some people think. Then we’ll look at the other side of this argument, at other verses, which clearly say what a lot of people don’t want to hear.

1. Jude 24: Now to Him who is able to keep you from falling, And to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy

Because God is able to keep us from falling, does that mean we could never fall, as OSASers say this verse claims? Don’t make the phrase about how He is “able to keep you from falling” say more than it’s saying. Consider Isaiah 26:3, which says:

You (God) will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You.

Thus God is able to keep us in perfect peace. But are we always in perfect peace? No, because our behavior betrays us; sometimes we aren’t thinking about God, and we are less than peaceful. So God has the capability (“is able”) to “keep us” in perfect peace (or to keep us from falling); but His success is dependent on our behavior! The simple fact is, we can reject God, fail to think about God, and fall on our own. Along those lines, what does it say only 3 verses earlier, Jude 21:

Keep yourselves in God's love…to bring you to eternal life.

This “keeping” involves our activity.  Something for us to do—or fail to do. You cannot argue that directing people to “keep” in His will is all God’s responsibility.

Now on the other key word in Jude 24: falling.  Aren't there many ways that we might not actively keep God first, and might fall? Some people fall when trials come. Take a look at I Timothy 4:1:

Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons.

The Greek word for “depart from” is “apostasia” which means  leaving the faith. In Acts 21:21, the same Greek word is translated “forsake.” Now I maintain that it’s impossible to depart from or forsake something unless you were attached to it in the first place. And it is impossible to apostacize unless you were a believer in the first place. Then you did a bad choice; it might have taken time, little by little.  You fell away.  What does Hebrews 10:38-39 say to this?

Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.39 But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.

Vine’s Expository Dictionary says about the Greek for “draw back:” it’s “shrink back into unbelief.” Thus, from belief to unbelief is possible.  The result of that is “perdition,” from Greek “apoleia,” a spiritual ruin. Perdition is hell. Again, you don’t draw back from something unless you were with it at first.

Some people fall because they gain power and are not ready for it; they fill up with pride. Consider I Timothy 3:1,6:

If a man desires the position of a bishop…not a novice, lest being puffed up with pride he fall into the same condemnation as the devil.

The Greek word for “novice” is a new convert, but I emphasize he is a convert, per Vine’s dictionary. So he was recently saved. But he could, with pride, fall into “the same condemnation as the devil.” The word “condemnation,” in Greek, is “verdict, resulting from an investigation.” It’s a final judgment. So he clearly has moved from being saved to being unsaved and bound for hell.

2. I Corinthians 5:1-5: It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles—that a man has his father’s wife! 2 And you are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he who has done this deed might be taken away from among you. 3 For I indeed, as absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged (as though I were present) him who has so done this deed. 4 In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together, along with my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, 5 deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

OSAS adherents love to cite “that his spirit may be saved” in verse 5 to prove that this man has in the past been eternally saved, and even his adultery will not unsave him. My response is, don’t make the word “may” say more than it does in verse 5. How do you think this man is saved now when verse 13 says: “Expel the wicked man from among you.” The same Greek word for “wicked” is used in Jesus’ quote in Matthew 13:49-50:

This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous 50 and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

The word “wicked” is clearly an adjective for an unsaved person, which is what this adulterer is now, and needs to be expelled.  Why expelled?--another blog.  Basically, it's to keep the Church pure--we must remove those who are known unsaved and in gross sin.  When Paul says, “..deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh,” he is saying, “Don’t pat one another on the back for your toleration; don’t be nice in the name of forgiving love.  Just expel him. I know, without even being there, that he is unsaved—just based on the fact that he is an unrepentant adulterer.” Thus Paul is implying, flat out, Saved people don’t commit adultery. (I will have more to say on this later). And what about the phrase, “may be saved?” It doesn’t say “will remain saved,” does it—which would back OSASers claim. It’s really “maybe he’ll get saved once he sees how Satan, the god of his flesh, treats him.” He could be like the prodigal son (Luke 15), who saw the misery of his life under Satan’s control; he had a final choice, and made the right move. He turned around, and then got saved. So perhaps, in I Corinthians, allowing Satan to have his way with him for awhile (as with the prodigal) may wake him up (or it may not)—he might turn around and get saved before he dies (or he might not). At least he won’t have any well-meaning Christians around him, deceiving him by “assuring” him and not speaking clearly about his unsaved behavior!

3. John 10:27-29:My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. 28 And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand.

Clearly “my sheep” are the beneficiary of this gracious treatment. But what are the characteristics to be one of His sheep? Belief? Getting born again? No, that’s not what Jesus said. What He did say about the characteristics of His sheep:  you have to hear His voice, and you have to follow Him. And those verbs (hear, follow) are expressed in present, continuous tense—which means, an ongoing hearing and following. If you’re not in the habit of hearing Him and not purposely following Him in your daily walk, then you can’t say you’ll “never perish.” That’s what the verses said. They are conditional on our behavior, not unconditional.

4. John 3:16: For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Here again, the word “believes” is in present, continuous tense. You must continue believing to have everlasting life. It’s not just a “one time I went forward, so I’m saved forever” deal. And the word “believes” is more than just “yes, I believe in my head that Jesus died for me and that’s all I have to show of our relationship.” Vine’s, an excellent expository dictionary of Greek words, says about the word believe, “to trust…reliance upon, not mere credence.” The words “reliance upon” suggests action. If it’s real belief, our hearts will be moved to action. Do we really contemplate the hell that our sins truly deserve; and then, in gratitude for deliverance, repeatedly ask Him what He wants us to do as His servants, how to keep from sinning, and to build treasures in heaven? Do we regularly seek a real relationship with Him?  Maybe some of us, after that initial emotion, say "no" to these requirements.

I John really delves a lot into the real meaning of “believe.” Here’s just one example, I John 3:23-24a:

And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment.24 Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him.

So belief involves wanting to obey His commandments, and "abiding" in Him. First, have you sincerely tried to obey all the commandments in the Sermon on the Mount?  That’s how we abide in Him. But what happens to those who don’t abide in Him? John 15:6 has the answer:

If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.

You would have to go through a lot of mental gyrations to “prove” that that verse isn’t speaking of hell. It is, folks. By reading carefully these verses, you should conclude that the commandment to love one another, and to abide in Him are necessary and wrapped up with the word “believe.” Since loving Him and abiding in Him are not automatic, and require effort, real belief is thus conditional on our behavior, not unconditional.

5. Hebrews 13:5: Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

This verse is actually a quote from Deuteronomy 31:6 (part of Moses’ final words to the children of Israel):

….do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the LORD your God… will not leave you nor forsake you.

But then for context you need to peek 11 verses ahead. In Deut 31:16-17a, God gives His last words to Moses, warning him of Israel’s apostasy. It’s a hard word for Moses, and with much warning for us:

And the LORD said to Moses: “Behold, you will rest with your fathers; and this people will rise and play the harlot with the gods of the foreigners of the land…. and they will forsake Me and break My covenant which I have made with them. 17 Then My anger shall be aroused against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide My face from them, and they shall be devoured.

Read that again: God forsook them! Because they forsook Him. Evidently the word "never" in the Greek (Hebrews 13:5) doesn't have the unconditional meaning we think it has. (It has more of a "til' the unforeseen future").   Now you can try to wriggle out of the clear meaning of these words by citing “dispensationalism:” “Well, He was a God of Law in the Old Testament; thank God for His dispensation of grace now.” But I argue back that God is not a God of change. As James 1:17 says,

Every good gift and every perfect gift …comes down from the Father… with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.

We do not have two Gods in the Bible. The Old Testament is part of Scripture, and all Scripture is profitable for reproof, for correction in righteousness (II Tim 3:16); and we can learn a lot about Him in the Old Testament—and won’t have to unlearn them when we study the New! The point is this: The God who forsook His people in those days because they forsook Him, will do the same again now. The truth is: He will never leave you nor forsake you—IF you abide in Him. God help us to do so—but we have free will, and can forsake Him.

Further in the Word along this line is II Chronicles 15:2:

Now the Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded… and said to him: “Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin. The LORD is with you while you are with Him. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you.

Seems clear, does it not?

Now another thing you might cite about God never leaving us is to use, as our model, “the great promises to Israel,” whereby God will do miraculous things for Israel in the End times, and those people will be redeemed, so God “never forsook them”—so evidently you think God didn’t mean what he said in Deuteronomy or II Chronicles. But the national promise to Israel is different than the promise to individuals. In the End times, perhaps many Jews will see Jesus as God, accept Him and are redeemed. But in Exodus those OTHER Jews who rejected the spies’ good report rejected God’s promise, and died unbelieving in the desert. The point is, God didn’t change; different Jewish responses did.

Other “nation vs individual” verses that are abused are Romans 11:28-29:

Concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers. 29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.

OSASers love to select the words “election,” “gift” and “irrevocable,” giving themselves complacent assurance, but failing to place them in context. The fact is, the whole of Romans chapter 11 is about how God will gift the nation of Israel in His plan for the future.

Speaking of taking words out of context, yet another abused Scripture is Hebrews 10:12,14:

But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God,… 14 For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.

This says nothing about perfect assurance for the believer; "those who are being sanctified" doesn't carry that level of guarantee.  Also, this Word is for the Hebrews, about how Jesus is our High Priest, comparing His offering His body as a sacrifice once for sin being sufficient for atonement, vs. priests in the Old Testament offering sacrifices annually that don’t take away sin. And please don’t assume that “those who are being sanctified” is all up to God.  Don't forget:  Sanctification depends on our behavior; and as anyone will tell you, we are not robotically forced into making perfect choices. Thus it is conditional. See an item on this next week.

6. Colossians 2:13: And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses

OSAS adherents cite this verse that God makes us alive and forgives us of all sins, past and future, when we accept Jesus. It's wonderfully true that upon the point of salvation, God makes us alive, in part by giving us the Holy Spirit.  But don't forget the Sower in Matthew 13:  Some seed came alive, but under shallow soil died.  Another point about forgiveness of sin: the verse does not specifically refer to initial salvation guaranteeing us forgiveness for future trespasses; Paul is, after all, focusing about a past event (“has made alive”), at initial salvation. It could be, that's all he meant.  For additional light, take a look at II Pet 1:9:

But if anyone does not have them (speaking of fruits), he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins

I think if Peter knew that he could include future sins in this statement, he would’ve mentioned them—but he doesn’t. Another enlightening verse is I John 1:9:

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

John is writing this to people who are believers already, so it doesn’t make sense that we need to keep on confessing our sins to obtain forgiveness—if we’re already guaranteed forgiveness from future sins.
It would be safe to conclude that John evidently believes we’re not initially saved from future sins, so we need to continue confessing them to continue being forgiven. Introspecting on today's sins at the end of the day in prayer would be a good part of abiding in Christ.  It is an important part of Communion, right?  So I conclude the “all trespasses” in Col 2:13 is more likely referring to all trespasses up to the point of initial salvation—which was, after all, the time period of Paul’s subject matter. Not future sins.

7. I Pet. 1:3-4: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who… has begotten us again…, 4 to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you

OSAS adherents will cite our inheritance, as a child of the King, that will never fade away. But this great passage of Scripture doesn’t say that we cannot annul the inheritance by disbelief or unrepentant gross sin. Consider what Jesus said in Matthew 10:33:

But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven.

Definitely wrapped up in the word “disown” is losing one’s inheritance. So it is possible.

While I’m on this subject, I need to bring up another verse that’s misinterpreted by OSAS folks. It’s II Timothy 2:13:

If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself.

This is quoted often by OSAS teachers; their interpretation of God being “faithful” here is that He will accept our faithlessness and save us anyway. Their problem in making this assumption is not taking context into account. Take a look at the previous verse, II Timothy 2:12:

If we deny Him, He also will deny us.

Whoa, that says the opposite of what OSASers think 2:13 says. So, to resolve the apparent contradiction, let’s do what you seldom see teachers do—reconcile 2:12b and 2:13. First, you have to see how awful a sin being “faithless” is; it is not coincidentally connected to 2:12’s “denying” Christ. God many times calls faithlessness spiritual adultery. The Jews strayed into idol-worship, took their faith and worship away from God, and were called adulterers. Now before you say, “we don’t do idols in modern society,” you need to expand the meaning of “idol.” It’s anything that we think about as #1 to us except God. Say, we spend all that time at work and not think about bringing God into that experience (such as making sure Jesus’ related commands are maintained); then spend a lot of time collecting, cooking, and eating food without seriously giving thanks; then socializing with friends without raising His name (or thinking about how to do so); or raising our kids without teaching them constantly about God—then I conclude that work, eating, friends, and kids all become idols because God is not #1. We’ve simply substituted modern idols for the ancient wood and stone. God should be a part of our life, like breathing—and it’s faithless to only worship Him on Sundays, then leaving Him out for the rest of the week. We’re just as guilty of substituting God out of our life as the Jews did. Where’s the insistence that we should “abide in Christ” in modern society? Have we watered down the meaning of “abiding?”

The second thing you do to reconcile these two verses in II Timothy is: Expand the definition of God’s being “faithful.” We assume that faithfulness is always positive. Not so. Check out Deuteronomy 7:9,10:

Therefore know that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments; 10 and He repays those who hate Him to their face, to destroy them. He will not be slack with him who hates Him; He will repay him to his face.

God's curse on His enemies is included, is it not, in His being faithful.  He is faithful in fulfilling ALL promises.  So, that means He is faithful by carrying out His promised curses on the unsaved, as well as loving the saved. If that’s hard to accept, it’s probably because we haven’t thought much about hell. We’re talking about fiery torment, continual pain, continual thirst, no contact with others (read Luke 16:19ff on these). And forever and ever…for eternity. Why not just for 50 years, or 100 years? Why not probation? Why not a second chance, or purgatory? Answer: God HATES sin more than we can imagine—and ultimately His hate will be faithful to His promise and carried out on the unrepentant sinner. Look at the evidence of His anger in the Deuteronomy verse above: God will repay him “to his face.” Now that’s a God with a grudge. A whole new meaning on II Timothy 2:13, is it not? If we are faithless to God, He will be faithful to carry out His promise--i.e., the curse of our sin remains on us.  The opposite of what OSASers think.

8. II Timothy 1:12: … Yet I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day.

OSAS adherents claim that Jesus will do the work in guarding our salvation, so we are safe. But then why does Paul urge Timothy, two verses later, “Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you—guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.” The deposit is our treasure in heaven.  It's the same thing as "what I have entrusted to Him."  Guarding it is our job. Our behavior is involved. Another verse on this is Hebrews 10:23:

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.

Doesn’t that suggest that our righteous behavior ("holding fast") is what’s needed to obtain God’s fulfillment of His faithful promise to bring us to heaven? I think so. A job for us to do. That’s what the verse says.

9. Matthew 7:21-23: Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’

First, to understand this, the word "know" and its derivatives mean salvation.  Jesus seems to be saying, with the words "I never knew you," that the unsaved were in that condition permanently.

The OSAS adherent is trying to make the verses prove that you can't be "known" (saved) and then "not known" (become unsaved).  So the OSASer says, about Matthew 7 above, “This is the way it is with all unbelievers; Jesus never knew them; it wasn’t that He knew them, then didn’t know them.

My response is, first of all, look at the virgins in Matthew 25:11. Some had no oil (oil is a symbol of the Holy Spirit). In this salvation metaphor, Jesus has the bridegroom telling the virgins, "I do not know you.”  Now, it's gotta be, since  all ten virgins were invited, the bridegroom must have known them. So what does he really mean by the statement "I do not know you?"
I have to conclude that the phrase is an idiom—He’s really saying,” you are now so far removed from me in spirit (not having any oil), it’s like I never knew you.” I believe, furthermore, this is what Jesus is really saying in Matthew 7 above:  When He says "I never knew you," He is saying, "your thoughts and actions became so far removed from me, it's like I never knew you." Thus, these verses are saying, our thoughts and actions need to be in His Spirit, so He will claim us in that day of judgement. Thus, they do not back the OSAS claim of how it's impossible to lose salvation.

Secondly, study Luke 15:11ff, the prodigal son: He was a son of his loving father to begin with, right? Then he became prodigal, walked away, and didn’t abide with his father any more. Then he sees the light, returns to his father, confesses his sin, and returns to the family and in his good graces. You see where I’m going? Now look at verse 24 of the prodigal story, the words of the happy father:

for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’

So think…he was his son before, then he was dead (that’s the word Scripture uses), then he was alive again. He was home at first, then became lost, then was found. Seems pretty clear here, to make the parable relevant to us, as all parables tend to do—he lost his salvation, then regained it.

What additional valuable things do we learn in this prodigal parable, by the way? (1) We assume the father protected the son while he was under his care (as illustrated in John 10:28), but the son had the free will to depart of his own volition. (2) The father’s great love for his son (enough to forgive him freely after his wild life, when he repented) did not prevent the son from becoming lost. Note also that the father did not chase after the son.  What Jesus is clearly saying is, God the Father allows free will on this, even to the point of loss of life.

Finally, look again at Matthew 7:21, where those who are heaven-bound must first “do the will of My Father.” That too says continuing salvation is contingent on behavior, which the prodigal didn’t do for awhile—and was lost, or dead--i.e., unsaved for awhile.

NEXT WEEK: MORE ON THIS INFLUENTIAL DOCTRINE

Acknowledgement: Dan Corner, The Believer’s Conditional Security