Grace – Grace Evangelical Society

Why Didn’t John the Baptist Drink Alcohol? Luke 1:15

September 21, 2023 by Kenneth Yates in Blog - Grace, Luke 1:13-17, Luke 7:26-34, Qumran, Unbelief

When an angel of the Lord announced to Zacharias that he and Elizabeth would have a son, the angel also told him many details about the coming child. One was that this son, John the Baptist, would be a person who did not drink wine or strong drink. Why was that the case? Why did

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

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,

Remembering the Unforgiving Servant (Matthew 18:21-35)

August 23, 2023 by Kenneth Yates in Blog - Forgiveness, Grace, Mercy

One lesson from the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant in Matt 18:21-35 is that as believers, we have received grace from God. When we come down hard on others who sin, it is often true that we have been guilty of the same sin. We need to look at ourselves before being quick to judge

Calling the Wrong Person (2 Kings 17:24-33)

August 9, 2023 by Kenneth Yates in Blog - Assyria, captivity, False Teaching., Grace, Luke 6:39-40

We have all had a job that needed to be done and that we couldn’t complete without help. On some of these occasions, we’ve asked for that help from the wrong person. For example, we might have needed some help fixing our car and a friend told us they could help us because they really

Who Are the “Enemies of the Cross” (Phil 3:18)?

June 29, 2023 by Kenneth Yates in Blog - Grace, humble, legalism, Servant

In writing to the church at Philippi, Paul refers to some people who are “enemies of the cross” of Christ. My guess is that many people who read this description automatically assume Paul is talking about nonbelievers. I know that many Calvinists and Lordship Salvation teachers take that position. They find support for this view

Why Did Jesus Evangelize (John 5:39-40)?

June 20, 2023 by Kenneth Yates in Blog - eternal life, evangelism, Grace, Works

I’ve recently been involved in many discussions about the gospel of eternal life. Many people think that it’s not necessary to insist on the unbeliever’s understanding that Jesus offers eternal life to everybody who believes in Him for it. The unbeliever can be saved without knowing that. Instead, he can simply believe in Jesus regarding

Theology Permeates Everything

June 13, 2023 by Kenneth Yates in Blog - Calvinism, Grace, judging others

Sometimes we hear people say we shouldn’t worry about theological differences. Such differences aren’t important. But our theology impacts the way we see the world and the people in that world, even when we’re not aware of it. I was reminded of that recently while reading a Southern Baptist magazine. An article by a leader

Will Few or Many Be Saved?

June 7, 2023 by Kenneth Yates in Blog - Assurance, easy believism, Grace, Luke 13:23

In Luke 13:23, the Lord is asked if few will be saved. In that context, the Lord is talking about salvation as it pertains to the Nation of Israel. But the question is often asked in a much broader sense. Will most people in the world be a part of the kingdom of God, or

A Different Twist on James 2:19

May 16, 2023 by Kenneth Yates in Blog - Angels, devil, Grace, Satan

A woman at the church I attend (I’ll call her Betty) recently told me about a conversation she had with a friend. It put a bit of an unusual spin on Jas 2:19, which says, “even the demons believe and tremble.” Most often, people erroneously use that verse to say that faith in Jesus alone