Colossians 1:23 - The IF clause

"...IF indeed you are remaining upon the faith having been settled and not being moved away from the hope of the Good News which you heard, the [one] having been proclaimed in all creation the [one] under the heaven, of which I, Paul, came to be a servant." 

-So it turns out that everybody does not make it into heaven.  No universalism in play here.  There is in fact an ‘if’ clause, a condition on which the prospect of standing before God does hinge.  One must show evidence of true faith in the Good News of Jesus which does not fizzle before the finish.  To not do so would in fact show that said faith was faulty from the first (cf Hebrews 3.6, 6.11). 

-True faith and repentance is something which endures, persevering through persecution and hardship because it is a completely transforming soul rebirth worked into a person’s heart by God Himself.  He is the One Who begins the good work of salvation and Who carries it through to completion (Philippians 1.6).  It is not merely a state of mind that is subject to prevailing opinion or whimsy and which can be abandoned at some misopportune moment.  What you will observe in the life of one who is truly destined to one day stand faultless before their Maker is hope, steadfast hope in Jesus (Romans 15.12, 2Corinthians 1.10, Colossians 1.27, 1Thessalonians 1.3, 1Timothy 1.1, 1John 3.3) which endures and which is an anchor to the soul.  You will not see despair rise up and take hold in spite of life’s hardships (cf Psalm 42.5), nor will you see Jesus replaced as the source of hope (Galatians 5.5).  Ours is good hope (2Thessalonians 2.16), living hope (1Peter 1.3), abiding hope (1Corinthians 13.13), abounding hope (Romans 15.13).

-Hope is desiring something good to happen, expecting and believing that something good is going to happen.   The something good in this case is eternal life and the prospect of being right with our Maker and being able to stand in His presence without fault or shame or guilt, having done everything right (knowing that nothing short of perfection will suffice).  And there is indeed no hope of this apart from Christ, because nobody has any hope of expunging the morass of moral and spiritual imperfections which pervade their life, to say nothing of trying to atone for the accumulated mountain of guilt for transgressions already committed.  nobody has any hope of removing or of somehow reversing the curse which has been placed on the sons and daughters of Adam.  No amount of good works or religious rituals will ever be able to make me right with God.  But to the one who has hope in the Good News, who is continuing steadfast in the expectation that their sins have been completely covered, washed white and forgotten forever through the blood of Jesus - theirs is indeed a living and abiding hope complete with a seal of assurance from God Himself!