Salvation 101

I'm shocked by how many Christians don't understand God's salvation and even more when it includes pastors! The core foundational doctrine of the Christian faith should the first and best understood truth we should all know and yet, few get it completely right.
The plan of salvation, as most call it, I'd rather call the "process of salvation". There's a process in getting saved. God actually established the steps which all must go through to be saved.

The salvation process can be broken down in three states,

• Before salvation
• The person must have an open heart and an open mind to receive God's truth. A good soil as in the parable of the sower. As a child has an open mind and heart, so must a person be to make a decision.
• The moment of salvation
• When a person understands they have offended God and that Jesus paid the penalty for their sins on the cross and by faith asks for forgiveness through Christ's sacrifice, they attain salvation. This is done once and occurs only once. To seal the deal of salvation, if we can say it that way, God instantly gives the Holy Spirit to the believer as a token and helper. 
• After salvation
• With salvation secured, a believer must mature his new faith, grow in grace and be Christ like as much as possible. Sins during his Christian life are forgiven on confession but may cause consequences on earth and lose rewards in the after life.

Understanding salvation

• Salvation is a settlement between two parties before going to a court of judgment
• The offended (God) offers to drop the charges and be reconciled if the offender (sinner) completes the following terms
• He must agree to the following
• That he has sinned against God
• That he deserves the eternal judgment of Hell for his offences
• That Jesus paid the penalties for his sins with His life on the cross and that he cannot do nothing to replace His sacrifice
• He must fulfill the following task
• The offender must plead or ask the offended (God) for forgiveness and accept Jesus's sacrifice as payment

Can a Christian lose his salvation

The answer is NO. Here are verses that establishes this assertion,

For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Rom. 6:23

for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable. Rom. 11:29

And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory. Eph. 1:13,14

Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. John 5:24

And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. John 10:28

And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. 40 For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.” John 6:39,40

The above verses clearly teach that salvation is freely given, guarded and guaranteed with God's promise. There's not one single clear verse that states a Christian can lose his salvation or that God will take back what he freely gave in the first place.  Once a person is adopted and becomes a child of God, even sin cannot change his position in the family.

Seemingly contradictory Bible passages

26 For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Heb. 10:26,27

In verse 26, Paul is just repeating what he already said to the unconverted Hebrews, that there is no more sacrificial system for sins after knowing the truth. Jesus abolished the sacrificial system and so they could not continue with the old testament system. Verse confirms this because they would still be under judgment of God's wrath.

6 No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him. 7 Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. 8 The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. 9 No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God. 10 This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister. 1 Joh. 3:6-10

The key to understanding this portion of scripture is found in verse 6. Someone who continues to sin or in other words has never had a true visible conversion in his life was not saved from the beginning.  Verse 10 continues that thought by saying you will know who's saved by a righteous life. A true conversion should have been demonstrated at from the start. These verses are not speaking of a believer who has fallen into sin but someone who has never been saved in the first place.