You Can Fall From Grace: Specific Instruction – Gal. 5:4 “You have fallen from Grace” – 1 Tim 4:1 “Depart from the faith” – Heb. 6:4-6 “fallen away, to restore them again.” Examples – Judas – Hymanaeus and Alexander – Simon the Sorcerer Inferences – Remaining faithful – Warnings of Apostacy

A Misunderstanding of God’s Sovereignty Passages used to support OSAS: – John 10:27-29; no one is able to snatch them out of the father’s hand – Rom. 8:35; who shall separate us from the love of Christ? – Rom. 8:38-9; nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

A Misunderstanding of God’s Sovereignty What these passages teach: – God Is faithful – God will keep his promises/covenants – God will keep his covenant. – God will do his part. – IF I AM FAITHFUL TO HIM, NOTHING CAN TAKE ME AWAY. What these passages DO NOT teach: – That God’s promises/covenants are unconditional and that we can’t break them (Deut. 7:9) – That we can’t separate ourselves from God. – IF I BECOME UNFAITHFUL, GOD WILL STILL SAVE ME.

A Misunderstanding of God’s Sovereignty Passages confused regarding the chosen: – 2 Thess. 2:13 – Eph. 1:4-5 Does this teach us that God has chosen individual person or the kind of person? – Does this imply there is no free will? – Is the implication that God chose a type of people? (Eph. “holy and blameless”).

A Misunderstanding of God’s Sovereignty Rom. 9 – Used to speak of God’s control – Man has no free will – God chooses who he will give personal salvation The context and point of the passage: – Jews frustrated at God’s choice of the inclusion of the Gentiles. – Jews claiming that God is unfaithful/unjust to Israel. – Paul explains: God chose the physical Israel to extend blessing on all men (through the Messiah), despite their deeds. The Israel that will receive salvation is spiritual Israel, not physical. It is God’s right to extend mercy on whomever he chooses. He is now choosing those who would be righteous, which include the gentiles.

Bruce Reeves: “This portion of Romans has been terribly proof-texted by some to deny the ability of men to choose faith in Christ, when in fact its actual purpose is to defend God's sovereign choice for "whosoever wills" to come and take of the "water of life freely” (Rev. 22:17).”

A Misunderstanding of God’s Sovereignty What God’s Sovereignty Entails: – The fulfilment of his plans despite man’s free will. Ex. Pharaoh Ex. Pharisees that killed Jesus What God’s Sovereignty Does not Entail: – Taking over Personal Choice and Free Will

Reconciling these passages/concepts “While God is sovereign and holds supreme authority, in His sovereignty He chose to give men free will to choose some things in life, including whether to believe, obey and remain faithful to His word.” Joshua 24:15 “choose for yourselves today Isaiah 59:1-2

Takes away from God’s Sovereignty If they define God’s sovereignty as being completely in control of the minds of man, then God’s plan of redemption has failed. – 1 Tim. 2:4 “desire all people to be saved” – 2 Pet. 3:9 “not wishing that any should perish” – John 3:16 “God so loved the world” They make God out to be unjust and/or unfair – Rom. 2:11-16

OSAS: Encourages and Allows Sin

Sam Morris: Baptist preacher in Stamford, TX “We take the position that a Christian's sins do not damn his soul. The way a Christian lives, what he says, his character, his conduct, or his attitude toward other people have nothing whatever to do with the salvation of his soul... All the prayers a man may pray, all the Bibles he may read, all the churches he may belong to, all the services he may attend, all the sermons he may practice, all the debts he may pay, all the or-dinances he may observe, all the laws he may keep, all the benevolent acts he may per-form will not make his soul one whit safer;

Sam Morris: Baptist preacher in Stamford, TX and all the sins he may commit from idolatry to murder will not make his soul in any more danger... The way a man lives has nothing whatever to do with the salvation of his soul... The way I live has nothing whatsoever to do with the salvation of my soul" [Do a Christian’s Sins Damn His Soul?].

Hoyt Chastain: Missionary Baptist Preacher He could “abandon his wife and children, move in with a sixteen-year-old girl, and the Lord would take the situation and ‘work it out for his good.’”

Bill Foster, Baptist preacher in Louisville, KY "If I killed my wife and mother and debauched a thousand women, I couldn't go to hell -- in fact, I couldn't go to hell if I wanted to. If on the judgment day, I should find that my loved ones are lost and should lose all desire to be saved, and should beg God to send me to hell with them, He couldn't do it" (The Weekly Worker, March 12, 1959).

Encourages and Allows Sin 1 John 3:7-8 Jude 4 – Grace turned to licentiousness. – Done by teaching that sin does not count, that one can live in sin and not be condemned, that one can rape and murder and not be held accountable.

Takes Away Assurance: Simon the sorcerer – “he was never saved” – “he was not one of the elect” – Well then who is actually saved? The Bible tells us we can have assurance: – 1 John 5:11-13

“Well that’s just your interpretation” Only one interpretation is correct. Ex. Gravity. What makes more sense? What better harmonizes with the Scriptures?