Eternal life is something you can receive by faith now, just like when you ask something in prayer you can receive it by faith before it's in your hands (ex: Mark 11:24). A high school graduate can see himself as a doctor at the moment of being admitted to medical school but still has to go through medical school and study hard. Believers in Jesus likewise must walk on the path to enter eternal life. They must walk faithfully on that path that starts with their repentance and faith in Jesus which means faithfully following Him (obeying Him, doing what He says - Luke 6:46).
This scripture talks about those who refuse to repent versus those who do repent and walk on the way they are supposed to walk on as the grace of God empowers them (Titus 2:11-14):
Romans 2:4-11
4 Or do you despise the riches of his goodness, forbearance, and patience, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? 5 But according to your hardness and unrepentant heart you are storing up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; 6 who “will pay back to everyone according to their works:” 7 to those who by perseverance in good works seek glory and honor and immortality -- eternal life. 8 But to those who are self-seeking, and do not obey the truth, but obey wickedness -- wrath and anger, 9 affliction and distress, on every human being who does evil, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. 10 But glory, honor, and peace for everyone who does good, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. 11 For there is no partiality with God.
We are saved in hope:
Romans 8:24-25
24 For we were saved in hope, but hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for that which he sees? 25 But if we hope for that which we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
That's because no one has inherited eternal life yet. But by faith we can lay hold on it (1 Timothy 6:12, 19). It can be say of those who are really laying hold on eternal life (not still sinning), that they "have eternal life" (1 John 5:13) by faith, even now.
Hebrews 11:1
Now faith is being confident of what we hope for, being convinced about things we do not see.
The walk to eternal life starts with repentance and faith in Jesus:
Acts 20:20-21
20 [You know] how I did not hold back from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you publicly and from house to house, 21 testifying both to Jews and to Greeks repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
It's important to keep one's mind on the things above, not the things of the earth (sin included):
Colossians 3:1-8
1 If then you were raised together with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated on the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are on the earth. 3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, your life, is revealed, then you will also be revealed with him in glory. 5 Put to death, therefore, whatever is worldly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these, the wrath of God is coming on the sons of disobedience. 7 You also once walked in those, when you lived in them [past tense]; 8 but now you also put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and shameful speaking out of your mouth.
No one who gets entangled with the things of the earth that are passing away, and who is gratifying the sinful desires of the flesh and has not put the flesh to death, qcan suppose him/herself to have anything called "eternal security" or to be secure in his/her salvation and be on course to enter the kingdom of God (compare 2 Peter 1:2-11).
A person who gets saved (from sin) must keep on walking on the right path that will lead to eternal life in the age to come (Luke 18:30):
Matthew 7:13-14
13 “Enter in by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many are those who enter in by it. 14 How narrow is the gate, and difficult is the way that leads to [eternal] life. Few are those who find it.
People who start on that path called “the way of righteousness” (2 Peter 2:21) when they are saved from sin are said to be like a dog that returns to its vomit if they go back to sin and leave that way of righteousness (2 Peter 2:22). That means eternal life was ahead of them as long as they were remaining on the way of righteousness, but that’s no longer the case once they leave that way.
So, salvation from sin begins now, when someone becomes a follower of Jesus (again, no longer a follower of the sinful passions of the flesh). But there is a final stage of salvation where the believers in Jesus will receive new immortal bodies that no one has experienced yet (1 Corinthians 15:52-54). And the way to experience it and be saved when all is said and done is simply for someone who is righteous (1 John 3:7), who has been saved by grace (referring to salvation from sin), to remain faithful to Jesus while walking on the difficult way to eternal life (Matthew 7:14). Going back to sin is unfaithfulness towards God, and that's a way that leads to perdition, not eternal life (Hebrews 10:38-39). Faith (cf. definition in the first paragraph) then keeps someone's relationship with God growing. But sin will finally break that relationship if warnings to repent are not heeded.
See also:
Can You Lose Your Salvation?
Repentance According to the Bible
The Essence of Faith
Saved From What?
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