Can You Lose Your Salvation If You Keep Sinning?
I remember the day I left my first church. I was around 18 years old and had been a Christian for less than a year when I started attending my friend’s charismatic church. I was brand new to Christianity and didn’t know about different types of Christians, but I loved the worship there. Eventually, I […]
The Truth Shall Set You Free (John 8:30-32)
Johns Hopkins University, Ottawa University, and Southern Methodist University all have as their motto the Latin translation of “The truth shall set you free”: Veritas Liberabit Vos. This is one of Jesus’ most well-known, yet also most misunderstood, sayings. In John 8:30, John tells us, “As He spoke these words, many believed in Him.” The […]
The False Gospel of Inwardness
Do pastors need to preach the gospel to Christians? We all believe you must preach Christ’s work to unbelievers, but should you also preach it to born-again believers? In his book Christ Alone, Rod Rosenbladt argues pastors must evangelize everyone: Most evangelicals have no category for preaching Christ to a congregation of believers; their only […]
The Growth of Sin in Peter’s Three Denials of Christ (Mark 14:66-71)
We have all been told that in one sense, sin is sin. All sin is a falling short of the glory of God. If we break one of the commandments, we have broken all of them because we have violated the law of God (Jas 2:10). However, we also recognize that the consequences of certain […]
Don’t Trust Your Plans
By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going (Heb 11:8). Do you remember what you wanted to be when you grew up? Did things turn out the way you planned? When my […]
When Our Good Works Won’t Be Good Enough (Revelation 20:12)
Recently, I visited the national park at Ft. Pulaski near Savannah, GA. I didn’t even know it existed until I drove by it. Much of the original fort is still there. The famous Robert E. Lee himself was involved in the fort’s initial plans. At the beginning of the Civil War, it was a stronghold […]
Do You Remember the Poor? (Galatians 2:9-10)
When James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that had been given to me, they gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. They desired only that we should remember the poor, the very thing which I […]
Have You Ever Debated Someone Over Justification by Faith Alone? The Wilkin-Sungenis Debate on June 9
Donny, the head of Standing for Truth Ministries, invited me to debate Catholic scholar Robert Sungenis on justification by faith alone. Sungenis is the author of a nearly 800-page book entitled Not by Faith Alone. The debate was lively. Though it lasted for over two hours, it was chopped up so that no one message […]
The Significance of the Rainbow
Five professional baseball players refused to wear a rainbow pride logo on their uniforms this month because of their Christian beliefs. The logo was to celebrate lifestyles that were contrary to those beliefs. Almost immediately, they were labeled by many as hateful bigots. Peter tells us that a righteous man named Lot, who lived in […]
Footprints in the Sand?
Here is a typical bit of chit-chat between neighbors. “How are you doing?” one neighbor asks. “Fine, fine,” says the other. “How are you?” “Not bad. See you later!” And we know that both people could be lying or hiding how they’re really doing. They’re not fine. They’re far from fine. But you can’t admit […]