Can a person lose the Holy Spirit once it is received?

Nope, it is ABSOLUTELY impossible!

Scripture states that "we are sealed (with the Holy Spirit) UNTIL the day of redemption."

That word for seal in the Greek is a type of Kingly seal by which once something was sealed by this seal it COULD NOT be opened by anyone other than its INTENDED recipient. And the Day of redemption is when Christ comes as claims His own by which at THAT TIME the fulness of our redeption is given. It is the fulfillment of the fulness of God's promise to us who have believed. (Ie. Glorified bodies, No more death, ALWAYS in and with the presence of God - just to name a few)

Jesus said He will not leave us comfortless but would send the Comforter (Holy Spirit) AND Jesus told those who believed "I will never leave you nor forsake you and lo I am with you ALWAYS even to the end of the age" And yet Jesus went up to be with the Father so how is Jesus always with us who believe?? Because Jesus IS part of the GodHead. Jesus and the Holy Spirit are distinct and yet the same VERY God! That where the Spirit of God is, so then is Christ.

Where the Spirit is, is Life - Yet we also see Jesus state IN HIM IS LIFE.

His Spirit also bears witness WITH our spirit that we ARE sons of God - not potentially but in fact ARE (= a definate and decided fact). We are not Gods Children because of how we live but who lives in us that we may live lives pleasing unto to God.

If you are a son you can never be removed from that family blood line.
If you are a son by law (adoption) you can never be removed from that family that adopted you.
Even though we are adopted into God's family and therefore into His heirship we are also in God's family by Blood - that being Christs blood shed for us on our behalf that we might have HIS righteousness which places us into God's family. So we are sons of God by blood and adoption - it sounds to me like God has a pretty strong hold on our spiritual sonship of His family. And it is that Spirit that is the seal or assurance we are His.


His staying with us is not dependent upon how we live (for we as Gods Children will desire that which is Godly) but on the promise of God that He must maintain for those who have believed and yet will too.
:godisgood: :thumbs:

 

Great post. Allan :thumbs:

 

Scott, not to be critical, but the Holy Spirit is not an "it". He is God. Just as the Son is God and the Father is God.
The Holy Spirit has sealed you in Christ. Jesus said no one can snatch you out of His hand. (John 10:27-30) It's a done deal. :saint:

 

Scott welcome to the board. What do you mean by lose Him? Do you mean the does the Spirit indwell a person and then move out?

If that is your question the answer is no.

If you mean can a person be filled with the Spirit (being obedient, faithful and overcoming) and then stop the Spirit from continuing to work in his/her life?

If that is your question then yes.

Hope that helps.

 

"Grieve" would be the better word choice. Just as a parent grieves over the bad choices of their children.

God won't "revoke" His claim on those that are His. He is jealous over what belongs to Him, and to let just one slip out of His hand would be to make Jesus a liar... and not the Son of God.

 

So the real question is will the Holy Spirit enter a person where sin still abounds?

Can one indwelt with the Holy Spirit continue to live a life of sin?

Will GOD co-exist with evil?

Do believers sin?

Is one of those what you're getting at?

 

What Scott is asking was once true in the Old Testament but on the Day Of Pentecost the Spirit no longer came and went as He did.


1Sa 16:14 The Spirit of the LORD had left Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD was terrifying him.

We also see in the New Testament that the Holy Spirit is given as a gift to believers.

1Co 6:19 Or are you not conscious that your body is a house for the Holy Spirit which is in you, and which has been given to you by God? and you are not the owners of yourselves;
Gal 3:5 He who gives you the Spirit, and does works of power among you, is it by the works of law, or by the hearing of faith?

1Th 4:8 Whoever, then, goes against this word, goes against not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.

Luk 11:13 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?

Finally, we see in Romans 11:29 that the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable.

MR

 

Scripture tells us yes, but not without severe consequences.

Well it depends on what you mean by co-exist. The Holy Spirit indwells us, and our spirit is made alive, but Hebrews 4:12 tells us that our spirit (which has been passed out of darkness into the marvelous Light) is separated from our soul, which is still in darkness.

From that point forward the Spirit and the flesh wage war one against the other.

Yes. Paul said he was the chief sinner, and I believe textually he was speaking of the present when he made that statement.

 

Well, your guess is at least as good as ours.

You haven't mentioned just what you refer to when you say that a person receives the Holy Spirit. Are you referring to the moment of salvation, when one passes from death to life? Ro. 8:9 says "if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." In that case you would be asking if one can lose his salvation.

Or are you referring to a later experience when one receives some kind of blessing--like being "filled with the Spirit" or something similar?

Maybe you really have a different question and you're trying to formulate it as a question about losing the Spirit. Such a question might be "What happens to a believer if he sins too much?" (My answer is, you don't want to know.)

That's my guess (more or less).

 

Holy Spirit

We shouldn't even expect to even to receive the Holy Spirit, if we are being blown by every wind that blows. Just keep your focus on Jesus even if you fall down and He will change your life.

James 1:
6But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; 8he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.

 

psalms, James is speaking specifically about receiving wisdom in the face of trials, not the Holy Spirit, which we receive when we believe.

See verse 5.

MR

 

Holy Spirit

Being double minded we shouldn't expect anything from God.

When we ask God to change us and give us the Holy Spirit which wisdom comes from we must believe and not doubt. The Holy Spirit is a gift when waiting for this gift we must believe God and do not doubt.

James is saying we shouldn't expect anything from God being double minded

 

Any Christian asking God for the Holy Spirit is ignorant of the scriptures. We already have Him.
We are given the Spirit when we believe.

Tit 3:4 But when the mercy of God our Saviour, and his love to man was seen,
Not by works of righteousness which we did ourselves, but in the measure of his mercy, he gave us salvation, through the washing of the new birth and the giving of new life in the Holy Spirit,
Which he gave us freely through Jesus Christ our Saviour;

Eph 1:13 In whom you, having been given the true word, the good news of your salvation, and through your faith in him, were given the sign of the Holy Spirit of hope,
14. Which is the first-fruit of our heritage, till God gets back that which is his, to the praise of his glory.

Verse 14 makes it quite clear that we do not lose Him therefore have no need to repeatedly ask for Him.

If we are double minded and require the Spirit to correct this situation and God will not give Him to us because of our double mindedness, then we remain perpetually double minded and unsaved. A Catch 22.

MR

 

Believers

Believers are given the Holy Spirit in God's timing not in man's timming.

Believing is just a seed, we can let trials and tribulation choke it our or let satan just steal it.

I do not believe anyone can lose the Holy Spirit of God.

Some people think they have it but they don't. You cannot lose what you do not have.

Hebrews 3:12See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. 13But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. 14We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first.

James 5:20
remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins.

1 Peter 1:23
For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.

1 John 2:19
They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.

God is not going to give the Holy Spirit to those who will not endure to the end.

 

The Holy Spirit is given as a seal unto ALL believers at the MOMENT of salvation and it is by the Holy Spirit that we DO edure till the end.

The giving of the Holy Spirit is NOT conditional on how we live OR endure but by the Promise of Father of "to those who believe" and not those who endure.

But I do agree however with PipeDude as to needing clarification on what the OP'er is looking for.

 

Enduring to the end

There are those who believe to day and not tomorrow, do not believe a lie that you are saved from now on.

It is not given to all believers, but to those who will endure to the end

I am not going to lie to you and give you a false hope, it is those who endure to the end that will be saved.

So continue in the confidence that you had at first. No one can lose the Holy Spirit, so if you turn away from God you had never been given Him.

I know people may of lost someone they love who did not endure to the end and still want to find hope for them, but sorry the scripture says it is those who endure to the end that will be saved.

The Spirit is the words of Jesus hide them in your heart that you may not sin against Him.

Keep your focus on Jesus, not in a false hope once saved always saved, because you might not be saved in the first place.

You can trust in Jesus, because those who endure to the end will be saved.

Jesus is your hope, so keep your focus on Him.

Hebrews 3:12See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. 13But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. 14We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first.