I think I understand the question and get where the OP is coming from.
In many Protestant churches I’ve attended and from which I’ve heard sermons they’re quick to take away with the left hand what the right hand gives in the much-cited “solas” of the reformation.
That is, they’ll say “salvation can’t be earned it’s only by grace” and then, if not explicitly then implicitly, “so now that you’ve been regenerated & justified by grace, get to work on yer sanctification” or “if you were grateful for the grace shown you you’d be nicer to people…” or some such.
I asked a long time friend yesterday while we were fishing whether he thought his Christianity (that is, the gift he received of the HS) has helped him become holier or just to see his sin more clearly. He said the latter and I agree.
The Gospel is supposed to allow us to gratefully rest in Christ’s finished and perfect work on our behalf, and that’s why it’s to be received week after week in the preaching and sacraments. Those who preach “Gospel! And then you better…” rob the saint of his rest whether they separate salvation from this equation or not.
There is a TRUE theology of the cross and those false ones of glory. There is no glory for us; it is all God’s.
