When somebody gives you a gift - they don't force you to keep it.
Well, that's where sanctification comes in. His sanctification and discipline comes from love not force.
2 Thess 2:13 But we should always thank God for you,
brothers who are loved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning to be saved by the sanctification of the Spirit and by faith in the truth.
Heb 12:6 because the Lord disciplines
the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he
accepts as his son."
God doesn't force us to stay in our secure position. That's why Peter warns: 2 Peter 3:17 Therefore, dear friends, since you already know this, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your secure position.
Peter is warning the faithful not to fall back into sin and lawlessness.
Right, it's encouragement for the believer to fight the good fight (spiritual warfare). It has nothing to do with losing salvation.
James reminds us that this is the case. Belief and works go
hand-in-hand to produce
saving faith (James 2:14-22)
Belief and works go hand-in-hand to produce
Godly righteousness, not saving faith BOL. Believers have already come to a saving faith at calvary. If you don't have the indwelling Holy Spirit then you are producing
self righteousness.
James 2:21-25
Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. 23And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God,
and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend. 24
You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone. 25In the same way,
was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction?
This is why Jesus taught in the lesson of the Sheep and the Goats that the one who DOES His will is saved (Matt. 25:31-46). He ALSO taught that those who simply call on His name won't be saved - but ONLY the one who will be saved is the one who DOES the will of the Father (Matt. 7:21).
BOL, the sheep are believers in Christ and the goats are nonbelievers.
John 10:25-30 Jesus answered, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The works I do in my Father’s name testify about me, 26but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. 27My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.
28I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all ; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. 30I and the Father are one.”
1 John 5:9-14 We accept human testimony, but God’s testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God, which he has given about his Son. 10Whoever believes in the Son of God accepts this testimony. Whoever does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because they have not believed the testimony God has given about his Son.
11And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. 13I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. 14This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.