“IF you keep my commandments, you shall remain in my love” (John 15:10).
“Well, because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Be not highminded, but fear: For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not you. Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, IF you continue in his goodness: otherwise you also shall be cut off” (Romans 11:20-22).
"Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also you have received, and wherein you stand; By which also you are saved, IF you keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless you have believed in vain” (I Cor. 15:1-2).
Paul wrote that Christ will “present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight: IF you continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which you have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister;” (Col. 1:22-23).
“But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, IF we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end” (Hebrews 3:6).
“For we are made partakers of Christ, IF we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end;” (Hebrews 3:14).
Notice that according to these verses, we will:
- remain in Christ's love,
- not be cut off of the tree,
- be saved,
- be presented holy, unblameable, and unreproveable,
- be a part of Christ's house, and
- be partakers of Christ,
IF we:
- keep Christ's commandments,
- continue in God's goodness,
- keep in memory the Gospel,
- continue in the faith grounded and settled,
- be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, and
- hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end.
So we see that our salvation is conditional based upon our continued faithfulness and steadfastness to the Gospel to the end, as Jesus said in Matthew 24:13, "But he who endures to the end shall be saved."
Jesus warns us in the Gospel of John, "I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away;” (John 15:1-2). I would like to encourage you today to spend some time and sincerely ask yourself where you stand before God. Are you bearing fruit for the kingdom of God, or are you in danger of being taken away by the vinedresser? If it is the latter, the time for repentance is now. Today is the day to start anew! Please don't delay a minute more.