If you want to see the importance of logic in real life, watch Judge Judy. Here’s a clip of a man losing his case in twenty-six seconds. A woman claimed that two men stole her purse. When she listed an “earpiece” among the stolen items, one of the accused helpfully interjected, “There was no earpiece […]

I am trying to learn how to be a better preacher. So is Bob. We’re both competitive that way— trying to better than we were before. We know the grim statistics, that just 12% of people say they usually remember the message (Schultz J and Schultz T 1994: 189). When we preach God’s grace and […]

I just read a blog by a friend about Jesus’ death on the cross. In the course of his discussion he said, “Darkness covered the whole land at noon (Matthew 27:45, Mark 15:33, Luke 23:44). For the next three hours Jesus was baring the sins of the world as a substitute for all of us.” […]

Do you know the difference between repenting of your sins and confessing your sins? Here’s an illustration. In Texas, there’s about two weeks during the spring and about two weeks during the fall when no one complains about the weather. For those brief moments, the weather is perfect. It’s sunny enough not to need your […]

My friend Don Reiher sent me an audio link to a message by Dr. R. C. Sproul on his Renewing Your Mind broadcast from a few weeks ago. It is entitled “Dying in Faith.” It is part of a series entitled “Surprised by Suffering.” You can listen to it by clicking here. Sproul’s big idea […]

A reader sent me a Roman Catholic article entitled, “Justification by Faith Formed in Love (Not by Faith Alone) in the Bible and Early Church Writings.” You can find the article here. It has become common in the last twenty-five years for Evangelicals to speak of “initial justification” and of “final justification.” In this article […]

One day I’ll have to write an article about John W. Robbins’ understanding of faith and saving faith. Robbins was a disciple of Gordon H. Clark. He ran the Trinity Foundation, which publishes Clark’s books, including Faith and Saving Faith. That book has been influential in Free Grace circles because it clearly shows why works […]

Sometimes people will say that saving faith is trust in a person. What does that mean, exactly? Here is John W. Robbins explaining when that expression makes sense, and when it does not: “Long before the neo-orthodox theologians thought of saying that faith is an encounter with a divine person rather than assent to a […]

Preachers and Theologians Sometimes Make Up Stuff Preachers and theologians tend to be careful when explaining fundamental Biblical truths like the deity of Christ, substitutionary atonement, Jesus’ bodily resurrection on the third day, the Second Coming of Christ, and the inerrancy of Scripture. By careful, I mean that they will quote Scriptures to back up […]

“How can you be so stupid???” We were talking about doing evangelism, when David and Anna [names changed] explained to me how David came to faith in Jesus. They started dating while David was an unbeliever (don’t do that, folks, cf. 2 Cor 6:14). As the relationship progressed, Anna confronted David about his lack of […]