I was responding to  person with whom I was having a dialogue in a private message here, and I realized that in my typical, long winded fashion, that maybe it should be the subject of one of my blog posts, so here it goes.

If I understood what the person was saying, it could be summarized like this:

A person is saved by grace, through faith, and that subsequent to that, they can be lost, if they sinned and failed to confess and repent.

What I am saying In contrst) is that a person is saved and as a result of the change in their nature which God gives they will not continue to sin (as a lifestyle, not meaning that they will never once sin again) and that when believers (BACs - born again Christians) do sin, it IS their practice to confess and repent. That characterizes their life until they finally go to be with the Lord.

I am not of the mind that the Lord takes a minute inventory of a believer's sins and then looks at that checklist and says: "Nope, I see Omegaman had a grumbling thought as he was breathing his last which he did not confess and repent of, so, off to Hell he goes).

What I see in the Bible, is that Jesus paid the price for ALL sin However that that price is not effective, except to those who believe and have that new nature. Since it IS effective for true believers (which are recognized by their fruit), the price was paid, and there is nothing that a believer can do, to forfeit the gift of grace. No sin is big enough to undo the work of God. Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow.

I am clean, I am righteous and pure, not because I did anything, but because Jesus as the perfect and infinitely valuable payment covers more sin than the world is even capable of committing.

I like the passages:

12“FOR I WILL BE MERCIFUL TO THEIR INIQUITIES,
            AND I WILL REMEMBER THEIR SINS NO MORE.”

13When He said, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. But whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear.

and

 8The LORD is compassionate and gracious,
            Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness.

      9He will not always strive with us,
            Nor will He keep His anger forever.

      10He has not dealt with us according to our sins,
            Nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.

      11For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
            So great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him.

      12As far as the east is from the west,
            So far has He removed our transgressions from us.

      13Just as a father has compassion on his children,
            So the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him.

      14For He Himself knows our frame;
            He is mindful that we are but dust.

This stuff is even found in the old testament in the time of law. They are not less true, in the time of grace, but that sort of grace is specifically limited to those He has given it to,(disciples of Jesus) by faith. It is not a one time thing, it is a promise for and of eternity. God does not take back what He has given, otherwise He lies when he said:

26 “But you do not believe because you are not of My sheep. 27 “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; 28 and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will 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 the Father’s hand. 30 “I and the Father are one.”

God never lies, so that passage is true. If you can lose salvation, then that gift was not eternal life, it is only the potential to acquire eternal life IF! There is no 'if" in that passage.

I think I am His sheep. If I am, then I am saved eternally! I am not able to undo God's grace! There is no sin we can imagine, that is greater than His love.

Some would say, and do say, that "no one can snatch us from His hand, but we can choose to walk away"!

Really? Do those people bother to notice that the text does not say that? What is does say is that no one can snatch the believer away. Certainly that applies to everyone we know, and even Satan is not more powerful than God, so cannot snatch the believer away either! I believe that the text says "no one" and it means no one. I am a "one" so even I cannot take myself out of salvation, because God is also greater than I am.

Some might say, that God does not force Himself on us, that He gives us free will! Let's suppose for a moment, that that is true. If that is true, then I came to God of my own free will, in spite of the fact, that the Bible says I was chosen in the beginning, before the foundation of the world, before I had any say in the matter whatsoever.

Suppose the Bible is wrong, and it was my free will that got me into Gods grace. If that is the case, then what did I do? I chose to enter in to a covenant, an eternal contract with the creator of the universe! Do we really think we can walk away from that, just opt out, because we want to? I really doubt it. 

A contract is a legal thing, that we cannot just opt out of. In a human court, with human laws, you can do that, IF you win your case. Here though, we are in God's court. He wrote the contract, and you can bet it is perfect, no flaws, it will hold up! We agreed to it, willingly some suggest, that if fine. Problem is though, that God did not only write that flawless contract, He guaranteed the terms with the seal of the Holy Spirit on us. That is the guarantee that it will be fulfilled. He owns us, by virtue of the fact that He created us. If that were not the case, we were also paid for with the price of the blood of His Son, Jesus, the Christ! Finally, God is the one in charge of this case, He is the judge - there is no possible way out, unless there is someone smarter, more powerful, and more authoritative than God. That is not Satan, and it is not us, case closed, the verdict stands, that we are bound by the contract, and the other verdict is that we are pronounced, not guilty, and even if we were guilty, the fine, the sentence was also paid at the cross. This is all so iron clad, it is beyond merely settled, there are no words to really describe how finished it is.

Ir is hard for me to understand why people even want try to find an out as a way to undo the gift of God, salvation by grace etc. The only thing that comes to mind, is that we desperately want to have a part in our salvation. We want to feel we earned it, and that we had to do something to keep it, we have so much pride, that we cannot accept that God saved us as a free gift out of His extreme love, perhaps because we know, we are not worthy.

Consider this. Assuming I am a sinner, as the Bible says I am, and assuming that my sin, separates me from God, and the Bible says it does. Assuming that as such a person, with that sin nature, that I am not able to understand the things of God, that I am blind and deaf to them, that I have a hardened heart, and I am a slave to sin, and assuming that I am spiritually dead . . . well, studied Bible believers know these things all to be true. That puts me in a horrible, and desperate situation. Why? The Bible says that I cannot please God without faith, and that because of all those things I just listed, I cannot have faith. Romans 8:7 says:

because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so

We are not even able to subject ourselves to God's law! This is were the huge, insurmountable problem is, that we are sinners, separated from God eternally, because we are hopelessly guilty, and not even able to truly seek God, let alone please Him.

So, there I am, a lost sinner, who thinks he has free will, but really does not, because my mind is by default, set on the flesh. As Paul lamented (Roman 7:24):

Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?

All of that to set up the desperate situation of the human race! Now, back to my alleged free will, to choose to walk away from God. I did not come of my free will, though it may seem to us that this is what we do, the Bible as I just illustrated, declares us unable to respond to God's call, even when it is presented to us.

Romans 3:10-12:

10 as it is written,
            “THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE;

      11 THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS,
            THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD;

      12 ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS;
            THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD,
            THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE.”

Do we get it yet? The answer to Paul's question (who will set me free?) is Jesus. When a person has trusted Jesus, believed God by faith, they are new creature, they have a new nature, they have been born again. With that new nature, their mind is changed, They desire to do God's will, they have a new understanding and a new ability to understand the things of God. They have a new ability to resist the temptation to sin.

So there is that new person in Christ. Eyes opened, ears able to hear, not longer a slave to sin, they have a heart of flesh where there once was a heart of stone, and they have passed from spiritual death, to life in the Spirit.

Now, mentally place yourself in that position. You have a love of God. You are grateful that you you have been forgiven, and that you will enjoy an eternity with God, only knowing good things, no more pain, heartache, sickness or death, never to have any need unmet, not any desire unfulfilled.

Now, with that understanding, who would say:

"Nah, never mind. I would rather have a few short years on earth, doing things only my way, living life and enduring some suffering, and then spend an eternity missing out on everything good!"

No one would do that, it is insanity to think that anyone truly born again, now having the mind of Christ and a desire to please God, would choose Hell (whatever that means)  over Heaven. It just would not happen not even once.

Now, not only is that the case, but there is God! He also has free will, He owns you and zealousy want you, loved you enough to die for you as Jesus. He has the power to keep you, and promises that He will.

What part of a believer walking away, makes any sense in light of all of this. The answer is simple, it does not make sense, and it is not in keeping with all the portions of scripture I mentioned and there are many, many more. If someone were to try to bring scripture to bear to contradict these things, I have to think that they are misunderstanding them, if there is presumed contradiction.

Now, I could had written much more, with many more verses quoted or alluded to, I chose to make this short so as not to overwhelm or overburden readers with too much information, especially when a lot of i would be redundant. I think I made some case for most of the points I offered. I did this to a large degree, so I would have a place to point people too, and they could get the gist of what I beleive and why, then we could discuss it.

There are a lot of people on worthy, who spend a lot of time, debating this topic, and not always in the most polite, respectful, not humble terms. One camp is often referred to as OSAS, or Once Saved Always Saved. The other major camp could be referred to then as OSNAS, or Once Saved Not Always Saved. The position I am offering here is OSASIS, or Once Saved, Always Saved, If Saved. 

Basically, it is the position that yes, if God saved you it is a permanent things, but it you not living as if you could lose out salvation, living to please and obey God, and confessing and repenting of known sins, then you have every reason to wonder, if you really are saved. Produce fruit in keeping with you repentance, work out your salvation, with fear and trembling! If you love God, you obey Him. If your are His you WANT to obey Him. When you are born again, you have the mindset and spiritual help you need to be conformed to the image of Christ. Live like the child of God you are, or worry that you might not be a child of God at all.

Forgiveness and grace, are not a license to sin, they are a motivation and equipping to resist sin, and leve a holy life, not as a burden, but with joy and thanksgiving.

 2 Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. 3 And everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself as he is pure. John 3

Believe it, live it, love it!