Is Salvation Eternal Once Received, or Can It Be Forfeited?
1) Direct Answer
Salvation, once truly received in the new birth and sealing of the Holy Spirit, is eternal and cannot be forfeited. Many can taste, feel, and even be anointed, then fall away—but that only proves they were never born of the Spirit. The true believer is kept.
2) Scriptural Explanation
- John 10:27-29: “My sheep hear my voice… I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish… no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.”
- John 5:24: He that hears and believes “has everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.”
- Ephesians 1:13-14; 4:30: We are “sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise… unto the day of redemption.”
- Romans 8:30, 35-39: Whom He justified, He also glorified; nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ.
- Philippians 1:6: He who began a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.
- 1 Peter 1:23: We are born again by “incorruptible seed.”
- 1 John 2:19: Those who depart show they were “not of us.”
- Hebrews 6:4-6; Matthew 13: Some taste the powers of the world to come and receive the word with joy, yet with no root; they fall away—showing it wasn’t the new birth.
- Luke 15: The prodigal was still a son in the far country; the Father restored him.
- Hebrews 12:6: The Lord chastens every son He receives; He doesn’t cast them away.
- Romans 8:9: If any man has not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His—so the issue is truly receiving the Spirit.
3) Simple Clarifying Logic
- Eternal life is eternal. If it can be lost, it wasn’t eternal.
- God’s seal is unto the day of redemption. If it can be broken, who broke God’s seal?
- A sheep may stray, but it cannot change into a goat. The Shepherd goes after His own.
- Many profess; only those born of the incorruptible Seed possess. Those who finally fall away never had the life inside.
4) Reinforcing Statement
So it’s not “once merely professed, always saved,” but “once truly born of God and sealed by the Holy Ghost, eternally secure.” The real believer doesn’t use this as a license to sin; the Life in him keeps him, corrects him, and brings him home.
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What did the Laodicean Church Age (our age) Angel (- messenger) Say about this?
Ranked passages from the local William Branham sermon and Church Age Book database. Relevance is relative, not a statement of doctrinal certainty.
The Indictment
63-0707M §93
See? Paul wants to know that these things here are absolutely essential: baptisms, laying on of hands, resurrection, second coming. All these things are eternal; they're absolutely the truth. Now notice! For it is impossible ... Read it with me---just one verse. I want you to read it with me now, the 4th verse: For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted of the good word of God, and the power of the world...
Seals 5: The Third Seal
63-0320 §70
Now notice. Now, here we are at the end-time. And spiritual Eve, just as Hebrew Eve was promised... The Hebrew bride was promised the Word to return. And the spiritual bride from Pentecost, when she fell at Nicaea, then she's promised in the last days that the Word will come again. Now you say... If you want another scripture, take over here, Revelation 10. It said, "In the hour, the time of the last angel, the seventh angel, seventh messenger, begins to sound, the mystery of God is finished." See, the restoration...
Hebrews, Chapter 6, part 3
57-0915M §72
And to make the heirs of this salvation a sure hope: He swore by Himself that He'd raise us up in the last days, give us eternal life, "And no man can pluck them from My hand." Amen! Let's pray: Are you guilty of spurning His love? Have you shunned His blessed Being (this great One who made you what you are)? And now here you are, this morning, this far in life, and has given you an opportunity. Do you want to continue to live? There's only one way to live: that's believe on the Lord Jesus. If you, from your heart,...
Questions and Answers
59-1223 §27
But the wicked shall be punished for their sins according to the deeds that's done in the body, and then will become completely and totally annihilated. Now just remember that. You that's taking down notes, remember that. And put me on record of that, that there's only one form of eternal life, and we are seeking for that; and God alone has eternal life. There's no two types of eternal life; one eternal life, and that's all that lives. And remember, put this on your note too: Everything that has been made, that had...
Letting off the pressure
62-0513E §63
God bless you as you stand there. As you return to your seats, go and know that everything that you desired and every besetting sin and thing that was wrong is under the blood. It's finished. Do you believe it? Do you believe it? Do you believe it, brother? Do you believe it, sister? Do you believe it? Then it's ... not shall be, it has been done. That's right. It's a past tense. God bless you! The very best in life an eternal life which you now possess... You have climbed and above sin. Sin is under your feet. Wha...