Living the Christian life begins with, and is dependent upon, acknowledging and submitting to the Lordship of Christ. Though none of us does this perfectly, we are commanded to do so pervasively.
Salvation is more than “fire insurance." Salvation is not merely an escape hatch from the fires of Hell. Jesus died not only to rescue His people from the penalty of sin (justification when we are born again and believe), but from the power of sin (sanctification as we grow in grace throughout our lives), and ultimately, from the presence of sin (glorification when we are in Heaven). Christ’s call on our lives is not merely to believe in order to receive passage out of Hell and into Heaven. He died and rose to save His people from Himself, that is from His wrath, and from our pre-salvation bondage to sin itself.
Salvation is a call to discipleship. As believers in Christ we are called to be disciples of Christ (Matthew 28:18-20), followers of Christ (Matthew 4:19), and imitators of Christ (John 13:15). Those who are truly redeemed are not only saved from Hell, but they are also given new hearts (Ezekiel 11:19, 36:26). When God writes His law on the hearts of those He saves (Jeremiah 31:33), those He saves will each be given a heart and desire to lovingly and gratefully obey Him This desire to follow Christ is the evidence of true salvation.
Salvation and “assurance of salvation.” The truly redeemed cannot lose their salvation because of sin, since Christ died for all the sins of all of His people. However, those who do not accept the call to discipleship and are not willing to follow the Lord Jesus Christ, will have to answer the same question Jesus posed to some earlier disciples in Luke 6:46, “Why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do the things which I say?” Though even the most dedicated servant of God still sins, those who do not seek to walk in obedience to the Lord have no room for assurance of their salvation (1 John 2:3-6). It is unlikely that those, in whom a lack of desire to obey the Lord is dominant, are saved.