Rebuke to Calvinism, False Grace, and Once Saved Always Saved Compilation
The cheap grace deceivers overlook that something being freely offered does not mean that it is offered unconditionally. There are terms and conditions and labor involved in believing Christ’s Gospel unto salvation (obviously faith must work according to God’s commandments and ways- see James chapter 2, etc).
We see in the offer regarding the great supper in Luke 14:15-24 how there were those who were invited and wanted to come, but they did not want to comply with the terms and conditions of coming. They were not required to pay a price to earn their attendance at the supper, but they had to come at the bidding of the man who made the offer, on his timing and on his terms. And Jesus gives this illustration obviously in the context of God and salvation in Himself. One valued the interest related to his property more, another the interest of his business more, and another valued his wife more. These correspond to the obstacles to the salvation of man’s soul which Jesus spoke about in Luke 8:14, the “cares and riches and pleasures of this life.” The refusal of these men showed that they devalued the man who gave the supper and the work that he had done to prepare it. When you think of heeding Jesus’ instruction and obeying everything He says, when that is really done in line with Scripture, it is receiving His grace properly. Not doing so is despising His grace.
The cheap grace preacher’s arrogance is especially evident when he characterizes the requirement that we submit to Jesus’ Lordship and obey Him by our works as man being saved because of what he gave to God. This gives much insight into their own wicked hearts, since they speak as if they would be giving to God and putting God into debt to themselves if they were to submit to Him and be obedient to His commandments. Nobody who recognizes that God has a rightful claim upon every person, a claim which is only increased and strengthened by the price which Christ paid to redeem us to God, would ever speak of turning from sin and submitting to Christ’s Lordship as if it were man making God indebted to him, giving man a cause for boasting. There is nothing man-exalting about submitting to Christ. It is rather man-exalting to think that God would ever bestow His grace upon a person and save them without them ending their resistance to His rightful claim on their life, giving Him the glory and honor due unto His name!
Matthew 22:20-21: “And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription? They say unto him, Caesar’s. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s.”
Romans 11:35-36, 12:1-2: “Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”
When the Bible talks about salvation being by grace through faith it is not saying that we can be saved by a cheap grace through a dead faith, though that is what a vast multitude of professing Christians read into the phrase “grace through faith.” Jesus has purchased redemption for us so that we can indeed be saved from sin’s guilt and power. We can’t pay a price for that redemption. Only He could make an acceptable atonement to pay the price for our redemption. And by the grace of God, He did! We need to obey the terms and conditions of His kingdom by a living faith in Him, and walk therein, to obtain what Christ has purchased and freely offers us. In that context, we need to be found worthy of entering God’s kingdom, our works and our overall lives testifying that we have indeed exercised, and continued in, a living faith before God which strives from the heart to work what is right in His eyes and come in line with His authority through Jesus Christ. Cooperation with Christ’s grace to rescue us and redeem us from the guilt and power of sin makes one a fitting product for His eternal kingdom. And God is thereby glorified!
Revelation 19:6-9: “And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.”
Luke 20:35: “But they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage”
In relation to man being worthy, whether we acknowledge it or not, we know exactly what the following verses mean.
Matthew 10:11-15: “And into whatsoever city or town ye shall enter, enquire who in it is worthy; and there abide till ye go thence. And when ye come into an house, salute it. And if the house be worthy, let your peace come upon it: but if it be not worthy, let your peace return to you. And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet. Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment, than for that city.”
1 Corinthians 11:23-29: “For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: And when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, this cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come. Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.”
All of this should make us fear God exceedingly.
Acts 26:19-21 (the Apostle Paul is testifying here; and the cheap grace preachers never preach like this, even though it is the twisting of Paul’s words out of context from other passages which they primarily use to try to justify their doctrines of cheap grace and easy-believism): “Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision: But shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judaea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet (i.e. fit) for repentance. For these causes the Jews caught me in the temple, and went about to kill me.”
Revelation 14:6-7: “And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.”
Putting together then God’s free offer of salvation through Christ to man, and man’s need to give God glory and obediently cooperate through the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (Christ can’t be separated in two), we read Revelation in 21:6: “And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.” We then read in the next verses, Revelation 21:7-8: “He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. But the fearful (i.e. this is speaking of those who are cowardly in regards to truth and righteousness), and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers (including all who use witchcraft and all who get high on drugs and/or alcohol), and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.”
If that isn’t clear enough, God continues in the very closing chapters of the Bible to show us warnings on the gates of heaven against the false gospel of easy-believism which denies the need to come under Christ’s Lordship and walk worthy of His kingdom by a living faith in Him in order to inherit salvation through Him.
Revelation 21:27: “And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.”
Revelation 22:14-15: “Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.”
Paul emphasized to Timothy near the end of his life how he had run and fought in line with God’s instructions to walk in the narrow way of eternal life in Jesus Christ so he could indeed have a solid hope of obtaining a crown of righteousness and reigning with Christ at His return.
2 Timothy 4:6-8: “For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.”
Unconditional eternal security/Once Saved Always Saved preachers practically make the beginning of the Christian race out to be the end, even though they typically don’t faithfully lead people to the beginning either.
1 Kings 20:11b: “Let not him that girdeth on his harness boast himself as he that putteth it off.”
Hebrews 12:1-2: “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race (i. e. Agon- the source of the English word agony) that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Many Scriptures prove that a person who has really been in God’s grace has the potential to harden their heart in sin and so fall from God’s grace. Hebrews 12:14-17, 1 Corinthians 10:1-12, 2 Peter 2:20-22, and Jude 3-7 are other notable Scripture texts which prove this. When someone denies the obvious from such passages, they have to be high from the illicit spiritual drugs which the false theological systems, sloppy and out of context Bible interpretations, and the many misleading cliches which abound in Christendom to pave the way for such delusional hallucinations that set the Christian up for spiritual destruction and perdition.
An easy strategy for Satan to defeat those who believe in Once Saved Always Saved: Just let them believe they are unconditionally elected to salvation like they already believe. The call in Ephesians chapter 6 for Christians to take the whole armor of God and fight with all their might to stand against the devil would be silly and unnecessary if one who had obtained eternal life could not die spiritually. The constant warfare which the Christian is in, and must overcome in, is only warfare because victory is not guaranteed and spiritual death is indeed possible in this war zone of earth where there is yet temptation and in which righteous choices can result in much pain and suffering.
Eternal life in the Bible is spoken of as a quality of life related to being properly related to our Maker on His terms. The eternal life that those who truly believe in Christ receive in this life is a measure or a deposit of eternal life, not eternal life in its fullness. Salvation in this life has not been finalized nor already arrived at. Hence those who receive eternal life in Jesus Christ do not yet possess a full salvation wherein they are fully restored to paradise in the immediate presence of God. For those yet in mortal bodies, such restoration has not happened yet. The Apostles did not say things like the following warnings in vain.
Acts 11:20-23: “And some of them were men of Cyprus and Cyrene, which, when they were come to Antioch, spoke unto the Grecians, preaching the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with them: and a great number believed, and turned unto the Lord. Then tidings of these things came unto the ears of the church which was in Jerusalem: and they sent forth Barnabas, that he should go as far as Antioch. Who, when he came, and had seen the grace of God, was glad, and exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord.”
Acts 13:43: “ Now when the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas: who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God.”
The Apostle John not only sought to assure those who truly believe in Jesus Christ (those who walk in the light of His Word) that they indeed have eternal life, yet he also sought to persuade them to continue to abide in Jesus Christ and walk in the light of God’s Word so that they would not forfeit eternal life.
1 John 5:11-13: “And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.”
Idolatry is involved in all sin, somehow, in some way, when sin is carefully analyzed. Idolatry is incompatible with eternal life. The mindset of the Apostles involves a valid concern that a real Christian who had truly repented of sin and worshiped Jesus Christ in spirit and in truth, from the depths of their heart (and otherwise they surely never became a real Christian at all), might afterwards depart from this genuine worship, turn back to idolatry, and thus fall from God’s grace and lose eternal life. Look at how the epistle of 1 John closes.
1 John 5:20-21: “And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.”
Hence the following Biblical exhortations to maintain eternal life, grow therein, and stay on the right course to the end to attain the fullness of eternal life were given to those who had already indeed been born-again and received (a measure or a deposit of) eternal life from God.
1 Timothy 6:12: “Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.”
Hebrews 3:12-15: “Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you (i.e. you Christian brethren- Hebrews 3:1 makes it clear that this is who is being addressed in Hebrews) an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end; While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation (referring to the Israelites in Numbers chapter 14 refusing to go forward into the land of Canaan when God had told them to do so- those who provoked God by their unbelief and disobedience to His Word died in the wilderness and never entered into the promised land).”
Jesus, the Apostles, and all the godly people in the Bible whose faith we are told to follow took it for granted that loss of eternal life could indeed happen. They were concerned that people actually obtain eternal life, maintain it, grow in it, and attain to the fullness thereof after (and if) they have faithfully finished their Christian course in this life. And that is the hardest part.
Revelation 12:11: “And they overcame him (i.e. Satan) by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.”
The call to wholeheartedly worship and serve God by submitting to Jesus Christ’s Lordship, and diligently following all that His Word actually commands, is the call of authentic Christianity. The Bible doesn’t contradict itself. There are different angles to examine the Gospel from, different aspects of the Gospel to emphasize at different times and in different circumstances, yet never does the true Gospel of Christ let anyone off the hook from taking up their own cross daily in order to follow Jesus Christ in doing what is right before God according to His Word while denying all sin and ungodliness.
Not unrelated to what has been said hitherto, addressing Calvinism (which is basically Reformation theology): Calvinism sounds appealing to the person who craves unconditional acceptance and security. At its core Calvinism is something intrinsically linked with something called Monergism- the concept that spiritual regeneration (and genuine spiritual maintenance and growth too) is exclusively the work of God. Does that sound spiritual and holy? It is not true; and no Calvinist really believes in it anyways. It is a rabbit hole that leads into dark, dark places where, if logically traveled to, God is made out to be the author of sin and would essentially be the one to blame for all spiritual failures. If every right response of faith is 100 percent the work of God then logically God must be blamed for all spiritual failures. But even as the Calvinist attacks you for glorifying man (allegedly) and hurls other accusations he has learned to try to protect his evil doctrine when it is exposed, he is betraying his own theology. Taken logically, no one could believe in Calvinism unless God essentially forced them to. And opposition then to Calvinism would be happening by God’s own design too. Label Calvinism then for what it essentially concludes: It makes God out to be the author of evil, it absolves man of responsibility, it justifies both the devil and mankind in their sins (and makes God out to be a villain by sending them to hell), it makes God a respecter of persons (unconditionally choosing to save some but not others), and it appeals to people who want to believe they are special to God above others.
Calvinism actually vastly underestimates God’s power and exalts man too highly- the very things that it claims to do the opposite of! A sovereign king does not control the actions of everyone in his realm nor do the people in his realm necessarily do everything he says. A sovereign king is one who is powerful enough to make just laws for his kingdom and to deal with his citizens in accordance with their deeds and attitude towards those laws (and by extension, towards himself). God is powerful enough to allow man’s free will to take course; and yet still be fully in control. Calvinism basically teaches that God’s sovereignty means everything happens by his decree. That falsely limits God’s actual power and is also the most man-exalting doctrine that could be conceived because it gives every sinner an excuse to blame their sin on God. Calvinists will often deny this, but their doctrine logically leads to this conclusion when it’s logically followed.
God’s justification does indeed have terms, as the many “if”s in the Bible in relation to man’s response to the Gospel of Christ prove. If God worked to irresistibly overpower some to faith and salvation and yet not in others (like Calvinism blatantly teaches), then God would be a respecter of persons. The Bible says over and over though that God is no respecter of persons.
Ask the Calvinist who pushes Calvinism to you if you have free will to believe in Calvinism; and why he/she is so frustrated that you won’t receive it. Watch how they evaluate you and expect you to respond positively to what they’re saying- the very thing they deny that man is able to do with God’s Truth! God’s Word is true; Calvinism is not.
Calvinists also love to say how man is nothing- and yet if you call one of their prized, revered teachers anything negative they often take great offense. It is a system filled with false assumptions, faulty logic, gaping holes, bad Bible scholarship, and subtle or blatant hypocrisy.
The Bible has answers which make God the author of salvation; and also yet leave man with responsibility to cooperate with God’s grace- grace which man did not earn, cannot replicate, and cannot please God without. This grace necessarily tests and tries man to come into line with his Creator, the One whom heeding and aligning with composes the essence of righteousness. This heeding and alignment are, when exercised, proper reception of the great moves He has already made to reconcile man to Himself. There is a Biblical solution that leaves all men with a valid, realistic opportunity to partake of God’s grace which none did earn; and which simultaneously leaves the blame fully upon those who do not enter into this grace, and remain in this grace, by virtue of the fact that they really could have done so. God made the same offer to them and strived with them to bring to cooperate with Him to obtain His grace like He did with those who obtained His grace and remained in it. If this were not the case, then God Himself would be a partial respecter of persons who showed favoritism. Anyone who ended up condemned to hell on Judgment Day could then call Him out with the just charge that, if He had only done for them what He had done for the saved, then they would not be receiving condemnation to an everlasting lake of fire.
Calvinism essentially makes God not only the primary obstacle, but in reality the only obstacle, to man getting right with Him and attaining righteousness. No logical person who fears Him should be comfortable meeting Him on Judgment Day holding to such a dark doctrine which paints the Righteous Judge of all the earth in such a morally ugly, unfavorable way. And by morally ugly and unfavorable, that is not a reference to the world’s corrupt definition of these things. If Calvinism were true, then God’s ways would be morally ugly and unfavorable by the definition of His own Law in the Bible! We know that the devil wants to slander and portray God as a hypocrite, we know that Satan is subtle, and there is no doubt where such insinuations come from.
Calvinists also must face the fact that their theology essentially originated from a Roman Catholic (Augustine, whom John Calvin basically got his theology from). Augustine was not shy in making known his belief that there is no salvation outside the Roman Catholic Church. That means that if Calvinism came from a man led by God’s Spirit in his theological judgments, most Calvinists would be going to hell anyways.
Yet since Calvinism is not true, I exhort everyone to not abuse the capability which you have and are responsible to use correctly, to walk in the light of God’s Word. Bow to Jesus Christ and get the sin out of your life completely. Jesus became the author of eternal salvation to all them that obey Him, as Hebrews 5:9 says. These are the true elect. If you don’t get in the Christian faith authentically, and endure to the end therein, you won’t be able to blame a divine lottery that didn’t go in your favor like Calvinism would logically say you should do. Those who are condemned to hell on Judgment Day will be condemned because they didn’t make use of the grace of God in Christ like they indeed should have and could have.
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