I have found that on more than one occasion when I have posted that salvation is by Christ alone that those unfamiliar with our ministry and of the whole counsel of Scripture have mistaken my intent to mean that we believe and promote in some kind of easy-peasy, lemon-squeezy type of Christianity. Well this could not be further from the truth. The Apostle Paul was also criticized for teaching a gospel of grace alone but he answered his critics thus: "What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?...We were buried...[and] just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life...But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life." (Rom 6).
The Apostle John also declares, "No one who is BORN OF GOD practices sin, because His SEED abides in him; and he CANNOT sin, because he is BORN OF GOD." (1 John 3:9, Emphasis Mine) Later in the same epistle John declares, "For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are NOT BURDENSOME. For everyone who has been BORN OF GOD overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith." (1 John 5:3,4) These passages clearly indicate that a regenerate believer cannot view God's commands indifferently but, having God's seed, we delight in them and desire to obey them. Those who are preserved by God demonstrate this new life by persevering to the end. Those who are indifferent to Christ's commands demonstrate an un-renewed heart. A Christian, while he may stumble in sin ... but, as the Apostle says, "if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we MAY NOT BE condemned along with the world." (1 Cor 1:31, 32)
Eternal life is eternal. It is not some far of gift given to us if we supplement Christ's finished work with our own ... or meet some conditions. If it is up to us to meet conditions before he guarantees salvation then salvation is no longer grace, but merit. No, our good works spring out of our salvation...we "work out {our] own salvation with fear and trembling, FOR it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.... " Phil 2:12 ..because if any part of my eternal standing with God ultimately depended on my flesh, then I would not make it - I would be hopeless. My daily works don't hold a candle to God's demands. Either Christ secures and seals our redemption by the Holy Spirit, who is a deposit GUARANTEEING our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession--to the praise of his glory. (Eph 1:14) or our salvation is in daily jeopardy, in which case, there is no good news of the gospel at all, but only if we have the wherewithal or are good enough to work up the will to persevere to the end.