Blog – Page 2 – Grace Evangelical Society

Abiding in Christ Is Not the Same as Being Saved

September 19, 2023 by Kenneth Yates in Blog - 2 Kgs 25:8-17, Fellowship, John 15:1-5, Sanctification

In John 15:5, the Lord says, “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in Him, bears much fruit.” This verse is often used by Bible teachers, preachers, and even seminary professors, to argue that all believers bear spiritual fruit. They maintain that “abiding in Christ” is the

How Could the Early Church Fathers Get the Saving Message Wrong?

September 18, 2023 by Bob Wilkin in Blog - The church fathers

William asks a great question: If you look into those who are considered the early church fathers and what the early church believed, you find some things that go against the free grace view. For example, they believed certain things such as having to maintain one’s salvation, and that repenting from sins is, in fact,

Are Zacharias and Ladd in Hades Because They Had Sinful Addictions?

September 15, 2023 by Kenneth Yates in Blog - Assurance, eternal life, George Ladd, hypocrisy, Ravi Zacharias

Ravi Zacharias, a well-known American theologian, died in May of 2020. His worldwide ministry focused on apologetics, which involves defending the Christian faith. He was a much sought-after author and speaker in the Evangelical world. Millions of Evangelicals saw him as a valuable partner. That all changed soon after his death. It was disclosed that

Do Christians Look Different?

September 14, 2023 by Bob Wilkin in Blog - assurance by works, J. D. Greear

A reader sent me a video of a message on James 2 by Pastor J. D. Greear. In that message, Greear commented on Jas 2:13, saying, “There is no way that you could receive the kind of mercy that God gave you in forgiving your sins and then withhold mercy from others” (see here at

Tearing Down a House

September 13, 2023 by Kenneth Yates in Blog - 2 Kgs 25:8-17, Matt 7:24-27, rewards, Temple

In Matt 7:24-27, the Lord says that a believer’s life is like a house. He can build a valuable and sturdy house if he does the things the Lord tells him to do. If he is disobedient, the house will come crashing down. This, of course, has nothing to do with receiving eternal life, which

Is Believing in the Giver for the Gift of Everlasting Life One Belief or Two?

September 12, 2023 by Bob Wilkin in Blog - John 4:10, The Giver and Gift

That question came up last night in my Zoom class on soteriology. We often say that there are three elements in the message of everlasting life: 1) Believing 2) in Jesus Christ 3) for everlasting life. We sometimes use John 4:10 to show that Jesus required that we believe in Him, the Giver, for the

A Light Shining in the Darkness

September 11, 2023 by Kenneth Yates in Blog - 2 Kings 25, Forgiveness, Grace, Israel

The Book of Second Kings ends on a very dark note. In fact, one would be hard-pressed to paint a bleaker picture of a nation. The ten tribes in the Jews’ northern kingdom had been defeated by the Assyrians about 140 years earlier. They had been taken off to Assyria as captives. Now the Babylonians

What Are the Hebrew Scriptures?

September 8, 2023 by Bob Wilkin in Blog - Tanakh, the Hebrew Scriptures

It is becoming increasingly popular in Evangelical circles to use the terms the Hebrew Scriptures or the Tanakh to refer to the thirty-nine books that are popularly called the Old Testament. This is because some Jewish people prefer that we call their Scripturesi the Hebrew Scriptures or the Tanakh. Calling those books the Old Testament

Nobody Has Out-sinned the Grace of God

September 7, 2023 by Kenneth Yates in Blog - 2 Chronicles 31, 2 Kings 21, Forgiveness, Grace, Manasseh, Mercy

Manasseh, one of the kings of Judah, was not a good man. He brought a great deal of grief upon his people. He ruled for 55 years and is described by the author of 2 Kings as the evilest king in the nation’s history (2 Kgs 21:1-16). When God gave the Jews the Promised Land,

Was the Tanakh Written to Believers?

September 6, 2023 by Bob Wilkin in Blog - Interpreting the Old Testament

GES has a cadre of more than a dozen writers working on a commentary for the OT (the Tanakh). Last night, we had a Zoom meeting of all the authors plus the six editors. At one point, the question of the readership of the OT came up. Except for John’s Gospel, the NT is written