Eternal life is a promise (1 John 2:25) and one maintains the promise of eternal life as long as one keeps the necessary condition of continuing to hear and follow Christ John 10:27.
One by his own volition chooses to hear and follow Christ and one by that same volition can quit hearing and following Christ therefore will no longer be of Christ’s sheep therefore no longer of the “them’ that shall not perish.
It takes effort to continue to hear and follow Christ thereby be of His sheep. Jesus CONDITONALLY saves those that obey (hear and follow) Him, Hebrews 5:9. Not one time does the Bible say that obedience to Christ earns salvation. Yet the Bible shows that obedience (hearing and following) Christ is a necessary condition put upon the free gift of eternal life. Christ does not unconditionally, randomly save a man for no particular reason.
The “not of works” of Ephesians 2:9 refers to works of merit one might do to attempt to earn eternal life. Again, the Bible never says obedience to God’s will is a work of merit one does to attempt to earn salvation. Naaman’s disease was healed by grace, a free gift of God for God did not owe anything to Naaman. Yet for Naaman to receive the free gift of healing required that he do the obedient work of dipping in the river as God told him. Therefore Naaman’s obedient work in dipping was a necessary condition God placed upon His free gift of healing and not a work of merit done to attempt to earn God’s free gift. Likewise hearing and following Christ (obedience) is a necessary condition that must be met if one is to have the free gift of eternal life whereby the hearing and following earns nothing.
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
1) the verb ‘believeth’ is present tense denoting the action must be something ongoing, sustained. Therefore if one quits believing he no longer has everlasting life for he no longer meets the condition of ‘believing’ which is necessary to having everlasting life.
2) “should not perish” is subjunctive mood which “Is the mood of possibility and potentiality. The action described may or may not occur, depending upon circumstances.” This means one should not perish depending on the circumstance if one continues to believe or not. If one maintains an ongoing sustained belief he should not perish yet if one quits believing them he should perish.
3) not how the NIV perverts John 3:16 by changing the subjunctive mood (”should not”) to the indicative mood (”shall not”) to avoid the CONDITONAL fact one may or may not perish depending upon IF he conditionally keeps on believing or not.
ANSWER MY QUESTIONS!
With what you believe how could you ever be confident that you have really done enough “hearing and following” to satisfy God?
Some people would consider “hearing and following” completely different than other people. How do we know who is doing it right?
1 John 5:13
“These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.”
Why wouldn’t this verse include Believe on, “AND HEAR AND FOLLOW”?
I have known Believers who in the throes of dementia for years have forgotten everything and can no longer “hear and follow” Christ. In some sad cases they become vile in what they say. Is it too bad for them?
Believers are like a brand plucked from the fire - what an image that is. That’s what you are IF you’re a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ - a brand plucked from the burning, rescued from the final conflagration of God’s eternal wrath. Spared the judgment to come by God’s infinite mercy and grace you are a brand plucked from the fire.