Your post reminded me of the verse:
James 4:6
But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble".
Salvation is freely given but grace is conditional.
Interesting. Never heard it put that way before. And with some Christians, putting any kind of 'restraining condition' on grace is heresy.
To me the main difference between the Old and New Covenants is that the Old was entirely dependent: conditional: on man's participation, with faith as the foundation stone by Abraham. Therefore it was meant to be everlasting, but was not, due to man's rejection of Jesus.
But the New Covenant is not dependent upon any other man than the man Christ Jesus, so far as remaining everlasting, and the Gospel is called the everlasting Gospel. (Rev 14) It is based upon a better oath and promise, one between the Father and the Son Himself.
However, God's Covenant of grace remains conditional on man to be effective for salvation. And that salvation by grace can cease to exist, if a believer falls ways from the faith of Jesus, falls from grace, falls from their heavenly seat in Christ.
Jesus did all the hard work we couldn't do, but faith is necessary for deliverance and
staying delivered. Grace does not cover sin, but the blood washes us clean of sin by grace.
Justification and eternal life are the free gifts that come by receiving the faith n
ecessary to be saved by grace.
I look at it this way: Grace saves
the faith of Jesus in the inner man of the heart, not the person of the body, and if faith
dies by iniquity and coldness of love, then no more inner man saved by grace.
No faith in the heart, no salvation by grace, whether faith was once in the heart or not.