The Cost of Discipleship

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CHARLES C. BING Editorial Board Journal of the Grace Evangelical Society Pastor, Burleson Bible Church Burleson, Texas Discipleship is costly. The Scriptures are clear that to be a disciple in the fullest sense of the term means that a person must pay a price. There is no view of discipleship which would disagree with this
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Rembrandt van Ryn: A Protestant Artist

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I. Introduction On the wall of my in-house office/library hangs a reproduction of a famous Christian painting. It has dramatic lighting—an almost theatrical triangle of light surrounded by great darkness. In the picture the dead body of our Lord is being taken down from the Cross by the loving hands of Joseph of Arimathea, Nicodemus,
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Are Good Works Necessary for Assurance?

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Editor’s Note: The following excerpt is taken, and edited, from one section of the article, “We Believe In: Assurance of Salvation,” in the Autumn 1990 issue of The Journal of the Grace Evangelical Society. See Resources With A Focus on Grace for ordering back issues. The reader of John’s Gospel will note how often it
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Saving Faith Is Not Like Sitting in a Chair

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Many theologians say that saving faith has three elements: understanding, acceptance, and trust. Unless all three elements are present, they say, a person does not have saving faith. This is sometimes illustrated by means of a chair. A person can understand that a chair claims to support a person who sits in it. The person
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Assurance by Inner Witness? – Romans 8:16

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The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. According to the Westminster Confession of Faith, there are three pillars of assurance of salvation: the promises of God’s Word, the works which the Holy Spirit produces, and the inner witness of the Spirit to the believer. All three of these
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Read Your Bible!

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Many have heard the story of the man whose devotional reading consisted of cracking his Bible at random and reading the first verse his finger touched. One morning this was his verse for the day: “And Judas went out and hanged himself.” That can’t be it, he thought. So he tried again. “Go thou and
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Is It Legalistic to Worship on Sunday?

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Nine of the ten commandments are repeated in the NT. The one which isn’t is the fourth commandment which deals with remembering the Sabbath and keeping it holy. The Sabbath is the seventh day, Saturday. Believers today are not required to refrain from work on Saturday or to worship on Saturday. This is clear from
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