A free written transcript of this message is available at https://media-cloud.sermonaudio.com/text/1221612363610.pdf. Free written transcripts of this message are available in 20 languages at https://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=1221612363610. See our playlist "Dealing with Predestination, Arminianism & Calvinism" at https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLA932903698A56780 with 95 videos & counting. Larry Wessels, director of Christian Answers of Austin, Texas/ Christian Debater (YouTube channel CANSWERSTV at https://www.youtube.com/user/CAnswersTV; websites: http://www.BIBLEQUERY.ORG, http://www.HISTORYCART.COM & http://www.MUSLIMHOPE.COM) presents a Biblical analysis concerning the question, "Can you lose your salvation?" This question has tormented many Christian believers asking things like "Once saved, always saved?", "Can a Born Again Christian lose salvation?", "What about Hebrews 6:4-6?", "Can a saved person backslide and be lost?", "What about apostasy and rejecting Christ?", "Can you be saved then lost and saved and lost again and again?", "What about eternal security and losing your salvation?", "Can I do enough good works in my life to make sure I don't lose my salvation?", "If I send enough donations to Benny Hinn, Joyce Meyers, Joseph Prince, & other TV charismatic evangelists will that insure salvation & miracles?", "What about the perseverance of the saints of Calvinism versus the losing your salvation of Arminianism & Pelagianism?", "What about the Divine Guarantee of Eternal Salvation found in Romans 5:1-2 & Romans 8:33-39?", "Can a Christian really believe in eternal security or is that the sin of presumption?", "Are Christians really redeemed?", "Has eternal security been accomplished by Jesus Christ's blood atonement for all past, present & future sins on the cross of Calvary or did He only pay for some of the believer's sins & not all of them?", "What about the Parable of the Sower in Matthew 13:1-23 or the Parable of the Ten Virgins in Matthew 25:1-13, many of these were not real Christians but only professing Christians?", "Does God have an eraser?", "Doesn't Rev. 22:19 prove that you can have your name removed from the tree of life while Psalm 69:28 says you can have your name blotted out of the book of life?", and on the list goes.

For example, The idea of the Book of Life is a figurative expression taken from the custom of registering citizens in a society or maintaining genealogical records." The genealogical sections of the Bible (such as 1 Chronicles chapters 1-9 represent the Book of Life for the nation of Israel. A family lineage is vitally important in OT culture, especially for the purpose of maintaining ownership of the family land. Thus, to be "blotted" out of the Book of Life meant the person's lineage would be forever removed from the genealogical record. We see examples of this with Korah's rebellion (Numbers 16), Achan's sin (Joshua 7), and the kingdom of Saul (1 Samuel 15).

Coming to the New Testament, the use of the phrase Book of Life takes on the meaning of a register that records all of those individuals who are "God's elect," who are to inherit eternal life. See for example Philippians 4:3, Revelation 3:5, 13:8, 17:8, 21:27. In Revelation 13:8 and 17:8, one factor that distinguishes between those written in the Book of Life and those who are not, is that those not written in the Book of Life are easily led astray by the Anti-Christ. Those who are written in the Book of Life will not follow the Anti-Christ.

What exactly does John mean in Revelation 3:5? John's words are describing an act of spiritual obedience. In other words, overcoming is a discipline believers perform in the course of normal sanctification. A continuing act of personal holiness out of love for God not to try to get saved but as evidence that true Christians are already saved & their manner of life verifies it.

But John has written other things including a short epistle which addresses how a person knows for certain he or she has eternal life. In 1 John 5:5, "Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? Rather than being an act of spiritual discipline that secures your name in the Book of Life, the word overcomer is a descriptive title for a Christian believer, a person who has believed upon Jesus as the Son of God. So, a person who is a Christian is an overcomer, or to put it in reverse, one who is called an overcomer is a Christian. The one who overcomes is one who has already placed his or her faith in Jesus Christ.

John is exhorting with a promise in Revelation 3:5. The Christian, or overcomer, is already written in God's Book of Life, the record of all of God's elect unto salvation. God's promise to His people is that no one, no matter who they are or what they may do, will ever be blotted out of the Book of Life. Revelation 3:5, then, is a promise of security to God's people, not a threat of judgment for not faithfully abiding.