Acts 5:32 And we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that Obey Him.

BIFF -- "We are saved by grace through faith and ALL of it was His doing, none of it is of our own doing, so we we can take no credit for ANY of it! Yet we are told to "Believe". Those who "Believe and Receive" are doing so out of "Obedience" to that Voice who tells us all to Believe.

Look at Grace like being the ticket that gets you into Grace by Faith Stadium where the big race for the coveted prize takes place!
OK we're here - we each received our FREE tickets - we've arrived! This is where God brought each of us to Grace through faith (to the foot of the cross)!
This is where each contestant comes and where we must ALL lay aside our Old man if there is any hope of us growing up to the fruit-bearing stage."

OSAS ("Once Saved Always Saved") -- "Ok, I made it to the Stadium in time to sit, have a hotdog and have my front row ticket to watch the race, and nothing more on my part needs to be done! Ahhhhh, slurp, slurp, this is the life. Just sit back and relax! I'm not only OSAS but I get to have the best seats in both worlds to boot."

BIFF -- "Oh but there is something on "your" part that needs done!"

OSAS -- "Oh yeah? And what's that?"

BIFF -- "YOUR COOPERATION! HE SPEAKS WE HEAR AND OBEY!" YOU NEED TO CONTINUE TO COOPERATE WITH GOD!" Wanna read Acts 5:32 aqain? Your "faith" was based on your "obedience" to Him! There's a race to be run and you're number's up - you're in it! Did you come to "watch" or to "run"????

OSAS -- "I already cooperated once. That's enough!"

BIFF --
"But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?
Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?
And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God." (James 2:20-23)

OSAS -- "I only came to watch and not to participate in any race! I don't have to"

BIFF -- Sorry, but that kind of faith is DEAD it being all alone (James 2:17). Being saved by Grace doesn't work like that! You obeyed Him once by believing as He said you must, and you must continue to obey Him as you had from the beginning!
There's only runners here. It's a "Race"!
You're here to "Run that Race all the way to the finish line in such a way as to win it by continuing to run it the way you began".

"IF" you came into this Stadium, then you'll notice: THERE ARE NO SEATS - NO STANDS - therefore you're presence is needed out on the track at the foot of the cross, so go out and take up the position that God assigned to you. That's why He brought you here in the first place, to take part in the race, not to sit on your duff!"

OSAS -- "But I'm saved!"

BIFF -- "Great! Many are called to come here and run this race, but few are chosen! Are you called or chosen?"

OSAS -- "But I need do nothing else!"

BIFF -- "You need to take up the cross and run with it and win the race!"

OSAS -- "No I must continue to rest, for if I have to run then I would nullify Grace!"

BIFF -- "No! You're name has already been put "IN" by Grace, and that's why you're here in the first place! You're not here to sit on your duff, you're here to run for the sake of the Kingdom and the glory of God!

OSAS -- "But that would mean that using my legs and feet of flesh to do it with are the kind of works that would nullify His Grace!"

BIFF -- "That's right, "IF" you were to run with them after the flesh and not after the Spirit! Do you claim to have been made a new creature in Christ?"

OSAS -- "Yes!"

BIFF -- "Good! Now run that way and you won't be running to nullify Grace at all, but merely continuing to obey God through excercizing that new man you have become, in running this race and by it grow to full stature in Christ.

OSAS -- "But my OSAS buddies tell me that I don't have to do anything!

BIFF -- "To save yourself, you can do nothing! But to keep on keeping on you need to run the race that is set before you! If you don't you will be disqualified.
Why? Simply because for "you" Christ died as Savior but never rose as your Lord who you MUST obey, therefore your faith is in vain! He is BOTH Lord and Christ! HE CANNOT BE DIVIDED!

Don't you get it yet? God is not interested in Saving You From your sins and bringing you here UNCHANGED, if you're not interested in Him also Saving you to Himself, in order that you be made a new creature and obey Him by running the race and by it producing fruit unto God.

OSAS -- "But I'm already at THE FOOT OF THE CROSS!"

BIFF -- "That's right! YOU'VE REACHED THE END OF THE ROAD FOR YOUR SINS, THANKS TO THE LAMB WHO WAS SLAUGHTERED FOR YOU. BUT IT IS "THE CROSS" THAT DEALS WITH ONES OLD ADAMIC "SIN" NATURE!

OSAS -- " Hmmm! So, His shed blood deals with my sins, while it is the work of the cross that deals with my sin nature!?"

BIFF -- "That's right! His Blood has already been SHED! Through faith in Him our sins have been forgiven and our consciences purged of its guilt by His shed blood!

OSAS -- "And the cross?"

BIFF -- "We need something to deal with THE SINNER HIMSELF! And this is where His cross comes in! It deals to us (our old man) THE DEATH BLOW! ONLY ***NEW CREATIONS IN CHRIST*** can go on from there. We need to come to Him Risen through that cross of His.

OSAS -- "Why is the race so important?"

BIFF -- "Because this Stadium is where the REAL RACE: ***THROUGH*** the Cross begins. THAT is the course set before us! At the foot of it is where we drop off our Old Man as being crucified and buried with Christ, and where we take up your new one!

And every eligible contestant here is first required to come and sit at the foot of that cross, meditate on His voice coming through it from the other side, and hear the same eternal story it brings to one and all, in order to acknowledge the need of our having put to death our old sinful self."

OSAS -- "But my old man was dealt with!"

BIFF -- "Then why aren't you RECKONING YOURSELF DEAD in order that you LIVE UNTO CHRIST by Heeding and Obeying His every word???
WHY aren't you hearing what I'm telling you? How can you say that you love and live unto the LORD Jesus Christ when you refuse to obey Him and keep His words?"

OSAS -- "But..."

BIFF -- "For instance when He says to you?, "Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.
For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" Matt 16:24-26
or...
If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.
And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.
For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? Luke 14:26-28

OSAS -- "You mean it is also necessary to OBEY HIM as well?"

BIFF -- "That's what I've been telling you! To get us in here "HE" did all the work! He gave out the Free Passes! To continue on GROWING from this foundation He set us on you and I need to add something to our faith! This is where "Love" comes in by our "Obedience" to Him: Matt.7:24; 1 Pet.1:2, 22.

But it's the kind of Obedience that merely goes to PROVE we're saved. ALL TRUE CHRISTIANS OBEY HIM! Just as faith without works is dead, so is faith in hearing Him who died but not obeying Him who also rose from dead as well!

So at the end of the road, at the foot of the cross, we sit down and weigh the costs. Then one will be able to see if we have the guts and the love we will need to Keep His words and remain in His love.
To never fall, it's going to take a heap lot of love added to ones faith to run that race right through to the other side where He sits in the glory of His love to await and welcome home all OVERCOMERS with welcome arms!

OSAS -- "But..."

BIFF -- "No butts! Do you honestly believe that you are "Saved" or can remain "Saved" without having to go through the Narrow Gate (the cross)???
If you reject the necessity of the cross for the sinner then you are in effect saying that you want to RETAIN your old sinful life and life-style as you always had.
Oh sure, you'll clean up your own act a lot more, sweep a lot more of that sin habit under the rug of flesh, go to church more often and the like.

OSAS -- "I need to reckon myself dead?"

BIFF -- "That's right! *IF* you are dead in the first place then you need to acknowledge that fact and begin your race after the Spirit!"

OSAS -- "I need to sell all I own in order to take up the cross and follow Jesus?"

BIFF -- "Now you're cookin' on all fours, bro. That's what the word says! Let go the hold you have on them and they on you. Give 'em to the Lord! Remember the one about it's easier for a camel going through the eye of a needle!"

OSAS -- "But how will I run the race?"

BIFF -- "Out of Love for Him, brother! IF you love Him (who first loved you) then you will keep on obeying His words! And the seed that was first planted in you when you first believed and received will grow and begin to bud.
And before you know it you'll be on the other side of that cross sitting in His hand, producing fruit unto God by obeying the Truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of God and of the brethren. Remember, "Love never fails!"

OSAS -- " I do love Him! and because I know I do I want to obey Him with all my heart!"

BIFF -- "Then do yourself a favor and prove it to yourself and Him by continuing in His word. Doing so will assure you all the eternal security you can handle in the love of God who strengthens you."

OSAS -- "I'm ready, but I'll need a name change!"

BIFF -- "Your new name IN ADVANCE will be OFAF (Once Freed Always Freed)! Now run in such a way that you will be found worthy of Him! Remember He didn't just come to SAVE YOU from your sins but to FREE YOU from them as well ( by having you crucified with Christ ) so you could FREELY follow Him!

OFAF -- "Here I go! I see where I'm going to grow up and get some discernment in the fear of the Lord, by working out my own salvation in fear and trembling, and have the eyes of my understanding opened so that I am no longer tossed to and fro by the teachings of "men". So long Biff!"

BIFF -- "So long? Hey, I'm here running with you until I die or He comes! I've already been there. I'm dead too! Yet I; the NEW me, is forever alive, and I know that Obedience to Him in Love is the only Life worth living!
The Lord sent me back to help show you the importance of obedience. And the kind of love that responds to Him through obedience is the kind that will keep us forever from falling!
This is a race to maturity/bearing fruit... and then it becomes a race to the very end, "HOLDING FAST TO WHAT WE ALREADY HAVE IN HIM".

OFAF -- "You got me fired up, Biff! I do love Him and I so want to be able to give Him the fruit He seeks and deserves from us.

BIFF -- "It's your call, bro. Remember, it was His Love for the Father and for you that brought you here in the first place - and it will be Your Love for Him that will bring you to take part in the wedding feast... I can gaurantee it!
He knows your heart, and when He sees all that GOOD FRUIT you got growing in you... mmmmm... just be satisfied in knowing that this is what Kingdom Living is all about!
NOW, not only IN you is the SAME SPIRIT that was also IN Christ, but (just as important) I see the SAME OBEDIENCE at work in you now that was also at work in Christ while He was here also."

OFAF -- "WOW! Goodbye my friend, until we meet again."

BIFF -- "Goodbye OFAF! So run loving Him with all your heart, with the same love and obedience that was in Christ that led Him to the cross FOR YOU... and that He in turn put in you in order to run to Him with, and before you know it you'll be flying with the on wings of eagles smack dab into His arms.

Always remember the 3 rules of the race... His Love is what got you here in the first place - His resurrection is what causes the Spirit to be poured in our hearts and changes us in order to run the race that is set before us - and His soon appearing as our hope of being glorified with Him is what keeps us pure and on the right track in running the race 'till He comes."

I Jn 4:
16 And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.
17 Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.
18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.
19 We love him, because he first loved us.