For those who don't know OSAS means ONCE SAVED ALWAYS SAVED or Eternal Security as it appears in this article....


A Bible Study by Jack Kelley

I keep getting questions from people who
wonder if Rev. 3:5 denies OSAS. Usually these
questions come from folks who believe in
OSAS but have had Rev. 3:5 used against
them by those who don’t. They write in hoping
I’ll have an answer that will confirm their
belief and that they can also use to defend it
the next time they are confronted with this
verse.

I’ve answered the question several times and
posted my answer on our “Ask A Bible
Teacher” page but I’ve never devoted a whole
article to it. When I got the question again this
week, I decided to offer an expanded answer.
This would be a good time for us to remember
that the Bible, being the Word of God, cannot
contradict itself. Therefore, when there are
multiple verses in support of a position it’s a
mistake to think any other verse could negate
that position, even if at first glance it seems to
be contradictory. Instead we should look more
closely at the “contradictory” verse to see
where we’ve misunderstood it.

Where OSAS is concerned there are multiple
clear verses that support it. John 6:37-40,
John 10:27-30, Romans 8:38-39, 2 Cor.
1:21-22, Ephes. 1:13-14 are good examples.
Therefore, our goal in reviewing Rev. 3:1-6 is
to see where those who believe that it
contradicts OSAS have misunderstood it.
Let’s begin with some background on the
Book of Life, mentioned in Rev. 3:5 , because
that’s what the deniers focus on. They claim
that the Lord’s promise never to blot out the
name of the overcomer means He can blot out
the name of those who are not overcomers.
Therefore a person can lose his or her
salvation for failing to overcome. (For a
complete study on what it means to be an
overcomer read “Who Are the Overcomers?” )
The Bible actually speaks of two similar
books, a Book of Life and a Lamb’s Book of
Life, and only the Book of Life appears in Rev.
3:5 so we’ll start with it.

The Book Of Life

According to Ps. 139:16 all the days ordained
for us were written in the Book of Life before
one of them came to be. Most scholars take
that to mean that the names of everyone ever
born are written in the Book of Life.
The first mention of the Book of Life (literally
Book of the Living) is in Exodus 32 where the
Lord threatened to destroy all the Israelites
because of the Golden Calf rebellion (Ex.
32:10 ). Moses made intercession for them,
asking the Lord to forgive the sins of the
people, but if He was not willing He should
blot Moses out of the book instead of them
( Ex. 32:32 ).

Moses was offering to be eternally banned
from the Lord’s presence for the sins of the
people. It was an incredible thing for him to
offer and in some ways it was a preview of
what Jesus would later do for all of mankind.
The Lord said instead of destroying them all
right then He would delay their ultimate
punishment until a future time. But when that
time came He would blot out the names of all
who had sinned against Him (Ex. 32:33-34 ).
That tells us the names of those who sin
against God can be blotted out of the Book of
Life.

In Judaism it’s believed that this book is
opened and updated every year during the 10
days leading up to Yom Kippur. During that
time the people try to right all the wrongs
they’ve done in the previous year through
repentance, prayer, and good deeds. They do
this in the hope that their names will be
inscribed in the book of life for another year
before it’s sealed on Yom Kippur. A traditional
blessing among Jewish people during this
time of year is, “May you be inscribed and
sealed for a good year.”

The Lamb ’ s Book Of Life

In Rev. 13:8 we’re introduced to another Book
of Life, this one belonging to the Lamb who
was slain from the foundation of the world. In
this verse John said all those who dwell upon
the Earth will worship the anti-Christ, whose
names are not written in the Lamb’s Book of
Life. Peter confirms the Lamb is Jesus, so the
Lamb’s Book of Life appears to be the registry
of the Church, rescued from the time and
place of the End times judgments ( 1 Thes.
1:10 ).

Some translations of Rev. 13:8 indicate the
Lamb’s Book of Life was written from the
creation of the world. If so, it means the name
of every member of the Church was known to
God and inscribed there at that time. God
could do this because He knows the end from
the beginning. (Paul mentioned God’s
foreknowledge in Romans 8:29 .) Since the
Church is promised the blessing of eternal
security, if it was possible to blot anyone’s
name out of the Lamb’s Book of Life, it would
mean that God had made a mistake in putting
it there in the first place. Of course, God
could not make such a mistake.
Rev. 21:27 says only those whose names are
written in the Lamb’s Book of Life can live in
the New Jerusalem. In my opinion, that means
the New Jerusalem is the exclusive home of
the Church. It contains the mansions Jesus
has been preparing for us in His Father’s
house (John 14:2-3 ). Rev. 13:8 and Rev.
21:27 are the Bible’s only references to The
Lamb’s Book of Life.

Some have expressed the opinion that since
post rapture believers are also saved by the
Lamb, their names should be in the Lamb’s
Book of Life as well. But the fact is that every
saved person in history, whether from the Old
Testament or New, owes his or her salvation
to the Lord for His substitutionary death on
our behalf. After all, it was a once for all time
sacrifice (Hebr. 10:12 ). And of all the saints,
only the ones from the Church Age are unique.
We alone are promised membership in God’s
family (John 1:12-13 ), eternal security
( Ephes. 1:13-14 ) salvation by grace through
faith alone ( Ephes. 2:8-9 ), a seat at the Lord’s
side in the heavenly realms (Ephes 2:6 ), a joint
inheritance with Him (Romans 8:17 ), and a
home in the New Jerusalem ( Rev. 21:27 ). If
the Lamb’s Book of Life is for every believer
there would be no need for it, because every
believer’s name will appear in the Book of
Life. With that background lets take a look at
Rev. 3:1-6 .

The Letter To The Church At
Sardis

“To the angel of the church in Sardis write:
These are the words of him who holds the seven
spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your
deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but
you are dead. Wake up! Strengthen what
remains and is about to die, for I have found your
deeds unfinished in the sight of my God.
Remember, therefore, what you have received
and heard; hold it fast, and repent. But if you do
not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will
not know at what time I will come to you.

Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have
not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me,
dressed in white, for they are worthy. The one
who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in
white. I will never blot out the name of that
person from the book of life, but will
acknowledge that name before my Father and his
angels. Whoever has ears, let them hear what
the Spirit says to the churches.

There are three details that give us the context
of this letter. First of all notice that the Lord
refers to His coming to them (2nd Coming),
not for them (Rapture). Then we see that He is
talking about the Book of Life and not the
Lamb’s Book of Life. Finally, he said only a
few in that church had not soiled their clothes
and would walk with Him dressed in white.
(When used symbolically, clothing represents
our righteousness. Isaiah 61:10, Isaiah 64:6
are examples. Having soiled clothing means
their righteousness is not sufficient to dwell
with God. This is what Jesus meant when He
said their deeds were unfinished.

That means only a few from the Church in
Sardis will qualify for the rapture. He was
talking to the others when He warned them to
wake up, remember what they have received
and heard (the Gospel) and repent (change
their minds about needing a savior). Otherwise
they will not know when He is coming and
could miss their last chance to be saved.
These details tell us that although He’s
speaking to a church, for the most part the
people in it don’t belong to The Church. If they
did, He would have referred to the Lamb’s
Book of Life, which contains only born again
believers, He would have said He was coming
for them in the rapture, and He would have
said they would all walk with Him and be
dressed in white. (In Ephesians 5:25-27 the
Lord described the Church as being radiant,
without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish,
but holy and blameless.)

Who Are These People ?

When viewed in the order in which they
appear, the seven churches of Rev. 2-3
provide an overview of Church history. By the
particular way in which the Lord described
them, we can see the apostolic church in the
letter to Ephesus, the church of the
persecution in Smyrna, the church that was
merged with the pagan Roman system in
Pergamum, the Roman Catholic church in
Thyatira, the protestant church in Sardis, the
evangelical church in Philadelphia, and the
apostate church in Laodicea.

Of the seven churches, Ephesus, Smyrna, and
Pergamum are gone, but Thyatira, Sardis,
Philadelphia, and Laodicea are still
represented as the end of the age approaches.
Sardis represents the church of the
reformation, which grew into the main line
denominations of today. Only a few are born
again and will be raptured. These are the ones
who have not soiled their clothes and are
worthy to walk with Him. But those who
overcome during the end times judgments will
still be able to enter eternity with Him.

In all seven letters to overcome means to
remain true to the simple Gospel; believing
Jesus died for our sins and rose again,
without adding to or subtracting from it. When
Jesus said the church in Sardis had a
reputation of being alive but was really dead,
He was accusing them of having subtracted
so much from the gospel that what’s left is no
longer sufficient to save them. This is
certainly true of the liberal denominations,
who believe people are saved just by joining
their church. But by reading their Bibles people
in these churches can easily find out the truth
about what it takes to be saved ( 1 Cor.
15:1-4 ).

What ’ s It All About ?

From this we can see that Rev. 3:1-6 is a
letter to protestant church goers, not to born
again believers. In it the Lord was
admonishing the majority to do what the few
had done, and remember what they had
originally been taught.
The five “solas” of the reformation
summarized the original theology of the
reformers. Sola fides, faith alone; Sola
Scriptura, Scripture alone; Solus Christus,
Christ alone; Sola gratia, grace alone; Soli Dia
gloria, to the Glory of God alone. These five
solas were the reformers rebuttal to the
Catholic Church and its extra-biblical
traditions. This is what they taught, this is
what the protestant church originally received
and heard, and this is what Jesus was
admonishing them to remember. They need to
hold fast to the five solas and change their
minds about their current non-biblical
theology.

Now we can see that Rev. 3:1-6 is not about
eternal security at all. It’s about reminding
people who aren’t saved in the first place to
remember what the reformation originally
stood for, and return to what they had received
and heard. Doing this is how they’ll avoid
having their name blotted out of the book.
Since there’s no mention of the Lamb’s Book
of Life it appears that the ultimate recipients of
this warning will be those who are left behind
when the true Church is taken in the rapture.
Failing to heed the Lord’s warning could leave
them in a bad way at the second Coming.

Four times in the Olivet Discourse the Lord
said people on Earth at the time will not know
the day or hour of His return (Matt. 24:36,
Matt. 24:42-44, Matt. 24:50, Matt. 25:13 ). He
warned the church in Sardis of the same thing.
They run the risk of realizing after it’s too late
that they’ve missed their chance. I believe this
is what Jesus meant when He said,
“At that time the sign of the Son of Man will
appear in the sky and all the nations of the Earth
will mourn. They will see the Son of man coming
on the clouds with power and great glory” (Matt.
24:30 ).

The nations (people) will mourn because they
will realize that what they heard about Jesus
is true. He is coming to judge the world and it
will be too late for them. They will have been
caught on the wrong side of the most
important decision of their lives.

If you have friends and loved ones in the same
state as the church in Sardis, please warn
them what’s at stake once again. Don’t let
them risk missing their last chance to be
saved. 08-16-14.

https://gracethrufaith.com/end-times-prophecy/osas-church-sardis-rev-31-6/

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