When God in his grace has called us into his kingdom, he means us to stay in that kingdom and to grow in grace. Paul expressed it this way,

3 I give thanks to my God upon my every remembrance of you, 4 always in my every prayer for all of you, making the prayer with joy, 5 because of your participation in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 convinced of this same thing, that the one who began a good work in you will finish it* until the day of Christ Jesus,

(Php 1:3–6).

Paul is convinced that God will complete the good work he has begun in the believers, God will hold them close to himself and cause them to grow.

Sometimes I am asked whether I believe it is right to say “once saved always saved” and I always have to answer that question carefully. If we mean do all people who profess Christ has saved them at an evangelistic event and then show no signs of new life, then the answer is no. On the other hand if we ask if anyone who has received eternal life can lose it, the answer must be a resounding NO. Eternal life is just that,eternal and once we are truly saved by the grace of God, we cannot lose that salvation. Romans 8 shows us that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.  God has planned to bring his people home to glory and he has the power to do it.

some people talk about eternal security in a way that gives the impression that we can just passively wait for God to save us. Any assurance that we are eternally secure should encourage us to grow in grace. The word of God constantly reminds us that we are called to become  Christlike in every way. The old term that was used was the Final Perseverance of the Saints, to my mind this better summarizes the biblical teaching. The emphasis is here placed on God’s promise to lead us and to care for us, so that we grow in grace.

We can confidently face the future knowing that God will lead us home and he will cause us to become more like him as he leads us on. Our confidence is in God and his saving power,he is strong but we are weak, we are in a safe place all the time that we acknowledge our dependence upon God.

In the last few posts commencing with the one on human sinfulness I have outlined in brief form the so-called five points of Calvinism, I hope this has been  a helpful study.