The Doctrines of Grace | Perseverance

Pastor Daniel teaches on Romans 8 and addresses how in trial, persecution, and struggles with sin, God is the one who helps us in our weakness, intercedes for us in prayer, and has saved us by His eternal decree.

By the way, Romans 8 definitively shows that salvation cannot be “lost.” However, this brought up the question of Revelation 3:5-6 and the question of “blotting out.” I’m preparing a longer ad hoc answer to that question, but the simple answer is that Revelation 3 promises to NOT blot out. This does not indicate that anyone’s name is ever blotted out. In fact, Revelation 13:8 indicates that a person’s faithfulness based on the fact that their names were written in the book of life before the foundation of the world (not vice versa).

Exodus 32:33 refers to someone’s name being blotted out of the “book of the living” but this is not the Book of Life referred to in Revelation and in Philippians 4:3. “Book of the Living” is a reference to king’s keeping a record of their citizens in a city and marking the deceased. Exodus 32:33 is a reference to physical death, not eternal damnation.

I hope this helps! By the way, in my longer ad hoc message I address the issue of people who seem to “fall away".” Note that 1 John 1:9 says that those who fall away were never genuine Christians. The Puritan William Perkins designed both an “order of salvation” and a parallel “order of damnation” that Tim Challies’ artists put into nice infographic (see below). This may be helpful. One point worthy of note is that the Puritans were wary of overly zealous people as they felt it was an indication of false conversion. The faithful, steady, humble servants of Christ who remain steady and grow in Christ over time are the ones less noticed by men, but generally most faithful in God’s sight.

Click the button below to access the Pugilist Podcast episode on passages that at first seem to indicate salvation can be lost.