Short Answer
A true believer’s name is not blotted out of the Lamb’s Book of Life. Those who appear to fall away were never truly saved to begin with—they only appeared to be. Genuine salvation results in perseverance and spiritual growth.
The Overview
The concept of the “Book of Life” begins in the Old Testament, where it referred to a record of those who are alive. Being “blotted out” meant physical death. In the New Testament, this idea develops into the “Lamb’s Book of Life,” which refers to eternal life. The key distinction is that, unlike the earthly record, those written in this eternal book are secure—they are not removed.
This raises questions about people who seem to follow Christ but later fall away. Scripture explains that not everyone who appears to be a believer truly is. Some may participate in church life, serve, and outwardly look committed, yet never experience genuine conversion. Over time, their departure reveals that their faith was not real.
Because of this, the issue is not that someone’s name was written and then erased, but that it was never truly written in the first place. What may look like losing salvation is actually the exposure of a false or superficial faith. This aligns with biblical teachings about “wheat and weeds” and people who are part of the visible church but not truly transformed.
A key evidence of genuine faith is perseverance and growth. True believers continue to grow in knowledge, character, and obedience over time. While they are not perfect, their lives show ongoing transformation. This growth is not what earns salvation, but it confirms that it is real.
Key Takeaways
- Old vs. New Testament Meaning
The Book of Life shifts from physical life to eternal life. - True Believers Are Secure
Their names are not blotted out. - False Converts Exist
Some appear saved but are not truly transformed. - Falling Away Reveals Reality
It shows a lack of genuine conversion. - Growth Is Evidence of Faith
Real believers continue to mature spiritually. - Perseverance Matters
Ongoing faith confirms true salvation.
Transcript
[00:00:00 – 00:01:09] John, you’re on the air with Pastor Mike. How can I help? >> How can I help? >> Hey, Pastor Mike, thank you for taking my call. Uh, I just wanted to ask about uh the Lamb’s Book of Life and your name being blotted out. What leads up to that? And also too, are you redeemable for your name to be rewritten in the Lamb’s Book of Life? >> Yeah. Well, my view is that the concept of the book that God writes, the book of life, is a concept that you can’t understand in the New Testament unless you
[00:00:35 – 00:01:32] understand it in the Old Testament. And what God has done in the New Testament is he’s made it more specific in saying there’s not only a book of life, right? There’s a book of eternal life. And we often call it, right, the the lamb’s book of life as it’s called in the book of Revelation. So here’s the thing. I think we need to start first and say if if Moses is there in Exodus 32, which I just read this morning, I think. And and it’s here’s uh maybe just yesterday.
[00:01:03 – 00:01:51] Here’s Moses saying, “Don’t blot me out of your book.” Or if you’re not going to forgive these people, blot me out of your book. The book that you’ve written. The idea here of the book of life, as we see in the book of Psalms, we see it in the Old Testament, we see it all the way back to Moses’s writings. It’s a concept of if you’re there, right, you’re alive. If it’s not, if you’re not there, right, then you die and God will take you out of the annals of the living. Okay? In
[00:01:27 – 00:02:26] the New Testament, now we’re not so much concerned, we are concerned about life here on this earth, but we’re concerned about eternal life because that’s far more important. And so, the reality of eternal life, right? We start to see now anybody whose name is written in that book, as it says in in Genesis 3:5, will never be blotted out. And that’s the point. It won’t be blotted out. And people say, “Wait a minute. Why would he mention blotting it out if the if you can’t get it blotted out?” Well, you c
[00:01:57 – 00:02:46] because everything about the Jewish mindset is the book of life. You can be blotted out of it and you’re going to die. When you die in on this planet, you’re blotted out of God’s book of the living. Well, you’re never blotted out of this other book. And so, that’s why the need for the statement, you your name will not be blotted out of the book. And that’s the point. And I think Christians are are not subject to that. Now, here’s what Christians are subject to. For all the people that don’t like
[00:02:21 – 00:03:14] this answer right now, they’re listening to me and they’re starting to fume. Here’s here’s here’s people whose names are never written in the book of life. People that are phony converts, people that come to church and look like Christians and go forward and pray the prayer and read a Bible and do whatever. But the Bible says there are plenty of people. They’re goats among the sheep. They’re weeds among the wheat. They go along with us. The book of Hebrews continually calls them out over and over
[00:02:47 – 00:03:38] again. They they look like they’re part of the church, but they’re not. They’re part of the visible church. They’re literally there, but they’re not part of the real church. And the problem is they eventually leave or they die in the church and they get sorted out at the end. And the bottom line is those are the people that want Christ, but they don’t want to live for Christ. They want Christ, they want all the goodies, but they don’t want to persevere in in their Christianity. So all the discussions
[00:03:13 – 00:03:54] about persevering in the Christian life, critically important. Everyone should concern themselves. I should not have assurance that I’m a Christian if I’m not persevering in the Christian life. But I don’t earn my way into the Christian life. And if your name’s written in the Lamb’s Book of Life really is, and I don’t have any record of it, we don’t have a window to it. There’s no webcam there. I can’t see it. All I can tell you is your name’s not going to be blotted out of it. Just like
[00:03:33 – 00:04:16] in the Old Testament, which everyone in the New Testament would know the Old Testament, they would say, “Hey, when you die, you get blotted out.” Well, I don’t want to be blotted out of the book until my time comes. Hopefully, when I’m really old, well, that’s what people think. Well, you your name’s never going to get blotted out of this one. And so it will be. That’s the idea. You will have white garments as it says there in Revelation 3. You will live and not have
[00:03:54 – 00:04:38] your name blotted out. So your question, I wouldn’t agree with the premise. Like if you get blotted out, can you get put back in? Uh I don’t think that’s the case. But here’s what I see the case of doing pastoral work for almost 40 years now. Plenty of people come to church. They’re not real converts. They play along with the game. They sing the songs. They may even teach a Sunday school class. They then depart. They go out from us because they were not really of us. says 1 John 2 says, “But then one
[00:04:17 – 00:04:58] day they come under conviction or they get in a car accident or they have some disease or whatever. Maybe life just gets to them, the Ecclesiastes life, and they realize it’s nothing out here and they come back to church and they say, “Man, I need to get right with God.” So, they start redoing all the things they did before, but this time there’s meaning in it because there’s real conversion in it. And it looks like their name was in the book, looks like it was out of the book, now looks like
[00:04:37 – 00:05:26] it’s back in. My view would be different, but doesn’t mean that I don’t have the same concerns a lot of pastors have a different view than me have. And that is I think a lot of people think they can just go through the motions and get the get the benefits just like Judas did. I want all the benefits, man. Let me be the treasurer. Think about that. There are treasurers and churches right now just like there was a treasurer among the disciples that that aren’t saved. They may be on a board as a
[00:05:01 – 00:05:49] treasurer of the of the corporation of the First Baptist Church or the Calvary Chapel of this city or or First Presbyterian Church of that city, but they’re not saved. They look saved and we trust them enough to give them the books and and and let them sign the checkbook at the church, but they’re not really Christians just like Judas. So, I don’t know if I made that clear enough for you. If you’re still on the line, John, do you understand my distinction and how to view this even though all my
[00:05:26 – 00:06:25] concerns are the same? >> Yeah, I do. I I guess I’ve never understood it, you know, from a Old Testament reference. I I I’ve always understood that, you know, that’s a new testament that applies and it’s something that’s very real that can happen for those who I guess have once received Christ. And I guess this would align with the same of those who depart from, you know, the word of God or at some walk away. >> Oh, John, we lost Oh, there you go. You’re coming out.
[00:05:58 – 00:06:52] >> I’ve understood it. >> Yeah, we lost a little bit of your sentence there. at least into my studio it did. And and yes, it there are people that are walking away, right? That shows that they’re not they’re not with us. And that’s the problem I think of too many people saying, “Well, John Johnny was a good Christian when he was in youth group and now, you know, he’s just walked away.” And the part that neither of us like who have the we have the same concern and that is don’t say Johnny’s
[00:06:24 – 00:07:10] fine because he’s living like the world. And when you live like the world, well, you’ll know them by their fruits. Well, his fruits were good when he was a junior in high school. Well, that’s that’s cool. He went on all the youth trips and all that, but he’s not cool because he’s not living for Christ. And what I’m going to say is there are so many illustrations, so many parables, so many passages that remind me there are a lot of fakes in the church today. And I can’t even separate them. Matter of
[00:06:48 – 00:07:31] fact, here’s the parable of the weeds and the wheat. Don’t go out and try to separate them yourselves. Don’t try to pull people out and say, “You’re not real. You’re not real.” Uh can you imagine if I gave you the job, John, go to your high school uh youth group at your church and just get to know them for a month and then just kick the ones out that are fake. I mean, it would be impossible cuz we don’t really know, but give them time. We’ll find out. We’ll
[00:07:09 – 00:08:05] know who’s real and who’s not. So anyway, passages would be Exodus 32. Look at the concept of the book. Uh Psalm 69, what is it? Verse 28. It’s a good passage that reminds us of this book of the living. And and if you’re thinking only in terms of the book of life, the book of the living, of course, everyone gets taken out of it. Well, what’s eternal life? You never die. It’s like Jesus talking at Lazarus’s funeral, right? You believe in me, even though you die, yet sh you live. And if you
[00:07:37 – 00:08:31] believe in me, you’ll never die. That’s the weird part, right? So, you’ll never get blotted out of the book of life, the the lamb’s book of life, that is. >> All right. Hope that helps, Sean. And how can you how can you test to know that the inner man within you is not a goat but is actually a sheep? >> Oh, that’s a great question. >> How can you know that? How can you be for certain? >> Right here’s a great passage. Let me let me pull this up and read it to you.
[00:08:04 – 00:08:59] Colossians chapter 3. Uh here here’s what it says. Don’t lie to one another. And that’s just one one aspect of obviously Christian living because you’ve put off the old self with its practices and you’ve put on the new self. Okay, so far we all have that testimony. Yeah, I was an iron Christian. Now I’m a Christian. Then it says, which is being renewed in the knowledge after the image of its creator. Okay, that’s a great line. It’s being renewed in knowledge after the
[00:08:31 – 00:09:37] image of its creator. So the new self, right? If you and I, John, are real Christians, we have a new heart. And the creator of that heart is God. And the thing about that, if you have the new heart, it’s being renewed in knowledge. And it starts conforming us increasingly to the image of its creator. And so we should have in our spiritual disciplines, Bible study, Bible memorization, going to preaching, fellowship, those things, as the knowledge of God keeps coming into my new heart, my new heart, I’m going to
[00:09:04 – 00:10:02] see it being renewed over and over in the image of Christ, I will get to see my inner man, as Paul said, get stronger as my outer man decays. Right? My outer man is dying, but my inner man should be growing. And if I’m not growing as a Christian, right, then I would say, are you really a Christian? Because real Christians grow. And that’s what verse 10 of Colossians 3 is reminding us of. So look at your growth. And the passages that scare us are the passages that are trying to say, hey, if you’re a
[00:09:34 – 00:10:21] Christian, you’re not growing. What’s wrong with you? Right? You may be a fake. And that’s why in James 2, where’s your works, man? You can say you have faith, but if you got no works coming out of that, and the thing about a growing Christian is they keep bearing fruit. They keep going. And and I would say we don’t go to church, you and I, John, I hope, because we wake up on Sunday, I want to go. I I want to go. No, we go even if we don’t want to go, right? Just like we should say no to sin
[00:09:57 – 00:10:54] even if we want to sin. We should say yes to doing what is right even though we don’t want to do it because we’re telling our flesh it doesn’t matter because my inner man is stronger and is going to be renewed. Like it it’s going to the gym every day and my inner man’s getting study. so I can tell my flesh to to take a hike and I’m going to do the right thing. That’s what growth is, spiritual growth. And that it’s a great phrase, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its
[00:10:25 – 00:11:10] creator. And I just hope that that all of us listening right now to this program would say, I can see growth. I can see the inner man getting renewed. I read my Bible this morning. It helped me understand God better. I went to church this weekend. I heard a sermon. It’s starting to take root in my life. I’m growing. I’m growing. I’m growing. I’m growing. And as you’re growing, you’re not growing just to be a Pharisee to know more stuff. You’re growing to be more like Christ because your character
[00:10:48 – 00:11:12] is being changed because the word of God is having its effect in your life.
