Hey Mr. Jeffrey,<\/p>\n
How can we know we’re in the Book of Life? What if I commit a sin (drive over the speed limit, think an evil thought, etc.)? Is my name erased from the Book of Life? How does one get into and stay in the Book of Life?<\/p>\n\t
“But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the general assembly and\u00a0church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven<\/strong>, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel<\/em>” (Hebrews 12:22-24).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
When a person is saved and is added to the church at his baptism(Acts 2:38-39,46-47), his name is restored to the Book of Life. This is why Paul could talk about his fellow laborers being in the Book of Life. “And I urge you also, true companion, help these women who labored with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the Book of Life<\/em>” (Philippians 4:3). It wasn’t a guess, but knowledge of their committed obedience to God (I John 2:3-6) and it is shown by the fruit of their efforts (Matthew 7:16-20).<\/p>\n
When Moses came down from the mountain with the stone tablets, he found the people committing idolatry and other sins.\u00a0He was so upset, he broke the stone tablets and punished the people.\u00a0Still, he approached God to ask Him to forgive them, but if He would not, Moses asked that he not be saved either. “On the next day Moses said to the people, “You yourselves have committed a great sin; and now I am going up to the LORD, perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.” Then Moses returned to the LORD, and said, “Alas, this people has committed a great sin, and they have made a god of gold for themselves. But now, if You will, forgive their sin–and if not, please blot me out from Your book which You have written!”<\/em>” (Exodus 32:30-32). God told Moses, “no.” “The LORD said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him out of My book”<\/em>” (Exodus 32:33). No one directly chooses whether he is in God’s book or not. It is God’s decision, and that decision is based on whether he was in sin or not. Thus, we also learn that entries into the Book of Life are not permanent.<\/p>\n
The church in Sardis received a warning: “To the angel of the church in Sardis write: He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars, says this: ‘I know your deeds, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die; for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God. So remember what you have received and heard; and keep it, and repent. Therefore if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you. But you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments; and they will walk with Me in white, for they are worthy. He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels’<\/em>” (Revelation 3:1-5). Some were not living as they ought.\u00a0If they did not repent of their sins, their names would be removed. But consider that their removal was not instantaneously done with their first sin. We don’t know exactly when God removes a sinner’s name, but there is some point where God clearly determines that the person is just not going to repent.<\/p>\n
Regardless of when it happens, what is needed is clear. We need to be living a righteous life. When we sin, we cannot remain in it. We must repent and return to God (II Corinthians 7:10-11). Our rejection of sin is critical. We don’t make a practice of staying in sin (I John 3:5-10).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: Hey Mr. Jeffrey, How can we know we’re in the Book of Life? What if I commit a sin (drive over the speed limit, think an evil thought, etc.)? Is my name erased from the Book of Life? How does one get into and stay in the Book of Life? Answer: “But you have…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[486,179],"class_list":["post-2239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-book-of-life","tag-sin"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":23122,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-moses-name-truly-written-in-the-book-of-life\/","url_meta":{"origin":2239,"position":0},"title":"Is Moses’ name truly written in the Book of Life?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 30, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I was reading Exodus 32:32. In the Book of Life, is Moses' name truly written in it? Answer: \"Then Moses returned to the LORD and said, \"Oh, these people have committed a great sin, and have made for themselves a god of gold! Yet now, if You will forgive\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":86348,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-names-be-removed-from-the-book-of-life\/","url_meta":{"origin":2239,"position":1},"title":"Can names be removed from the Book of Life?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 4, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi! Google directed me to your website, and I noticed an error. In \"What are the books opened in Revelation 20:12?\" you said, \"Names written in the book of life can be removed (Revelation 3:5).\" It\u00a0should say names cannot be removed. Just thought I'd bring it to your attention\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":23125,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-book-of-life\/","url_meta":{"origin":2239,"position":2},"title":"The Book of Life","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 12, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Text: Exodus 32:15-35 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0There are songs we sing over and over. Perhaps too often because we don\u2019t give enough thought to what we are saying to one another. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0There is a song in our books, number 418, that is titled \u201cLord, I Care Not for Riches\u201d \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It expresses what ought\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":93422,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-everyone-sins-how-can-anyone-go-to-heaven\/","url_meta":{"origin":2239,"position":3},"title":"If everyone sins, how can anyone go to heaven?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 24, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have some questions for you: I saw a video that says sinners cannot go to heaven; you cannot walk on the path of sin and still expect your name to be written in the Book of Life. If the video is correct, sinners cannot go to heaven. However,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12646,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-god-select-our-true-names\/","url_meta":{"origin":2239,"position":4},"title":"Does God select our true names?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 9, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have been reading through your website and I find a lot of answers to my questions. I have also shared the link to it in our group. I thank God, first of all for the wisdom He's\u00a0given you. Thank you for your time using it. I really appreciate\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":52423,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/jesus-is-not-going-to-give-our-sins-back-to-us-once-they-are-taken-away\/","url_meta":{"origin":2239,"position":5},"title":"Jesus is not going to give our sins back to us once they are taken away","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 25, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good works are not part of the Gospel (Ephesians 2:8-9), they're not requirements for salvation, rather they're the fruits of salvation. Paul calls the Philippians to work out their salvation in Philippians 2:12. However, this is not a call to do works in order to be saved, rather it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2239\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}