Thank you for your thoughtful comments. I DO take issue with your contention that the Holy Spirit "departs from us" if we grieve Him. We are told by the Holy Spirit inspired Scripture, "And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. . (Ephesians 4:30). Also, in Ephesians 1:13, "In whom you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after you believed, you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise". And again in 2 Corinthians 1:22, "In addition, he has put his seal [of ownership] on us and has given us the Spirit as his guarantee." There are other verses as well that tell us that the Holy Spirit is NOT taken from us once we are indwelt by Him and that happens when we are born again through faith in Christ, when we receive the gift of God's grace by faith. Though our sins can separate us from fellowship with God, and God does discipline us as a loving Father would with consequences, nothing can separate us from His love and He will never leave us or foresake us, never lose us or cast us out.
I would dearly love to believe that this difference is all just a matter of semantics and misunderstanding, but there is no denying that there is a vast chasm between saying we are saved by grace through faith in Christ and our works are evidence of that faith and saying we are saved by faith AND our works and without those works, faith is not enough to save us. As Paul reminds us about Abraham, "In the same way, Abraham "believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness." (Galatians 3:6) and reiterated in Romans 4:3, "For the Scriptures tell us, "Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.".
I believe this point is crucial to being a Christian and, if we think somehow that our works are what merit heaven for us, we miss out not only on the joy the assurance of our salvation God desires that we have, but also the freedom to live a life pleasing to God done out of love for Him and gratitude for His unspeakable Gift rather than out of fear of hell. God loves us so much that He GAVE His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him, will NOT perish, but HAVE everlasting life, that sounds to me like HE really wants us to trust in His promises and to love Him because He first loved us. God bless you!
When David sinned, he pleaded in prayer (Psalm 51) saying, “Take not your Spirit from me.” Must have been a real possibility. Jesus, in the parable of the sower, talks of grain that is planted, germinates and grows for a time, then dies in the heat of the sun. Seems dangerous to assume that what He gives, He can’t reclaim.