I would appreciate an explanation of Matt. 7:21 in relationship to salvation. If you accept Christ’s gift of grace, and turn your life over to him, can you lose your salvation if you don’t do the will of God?
Matt. 7:21 says,
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”
To understand this verse you have to know “the will of My Father in heaven.” According to John 6: 40, “My Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.” It is God’s will that we accept the free gift of salvation solely by faith, not trying to add anything to it by human effort. People who work to earn or keep their salvation are not accepted by God, even if they do miraculous work in His name, because it devalues His death, relegating it to the same status as the death of a sacrificial animal. Good works are intended as a sign of gratitude for what the Lord has already done, not a way to finish a job we think He only began.