“Some may object that if we must repent, and we must have faith, then these things cannot be the gift of God. If God gives them, how are they ours? The answer is that they are ours because God gives them to us” (Back to Basics, p.55)
Not Consulted At All
“The order of events is apparent in all the images that the Bible gives us of this new birth. The dead do not work on their own resurrection. The unborn do not work at their own birth. I do not recall doing anything to bring about my physical birth in 1953. I was not even …
Unilateral Resurrection Power
“When Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, it was not a work that He and Lazarus accomplished together — even though the power of the work was evident in Lazarus, it was not something done by Lazarus” (Back to Basics, p. 54).
What God Intended Is What Will Be
“Jesus did not throw the gospel out into the world, hoping that someone would respond to it . . . on the glorious day when the wheat is gathered into the barns, there will be no one in heaven maintaining that Christ died to bring in the chaff and weeds as well, and wondering out …
Possibilities and Actualities
“By learning why Christ died, we will also for whom He died . . . What exactly does the Cross of Jesus Christ do for sinners? Christians have adopted two basic answers to this question. The popular answer is that the Cross creates the possibility of saving everyone, while the biblical answer is that the …
What We All Believe Really
“The reason this objection [to God’s sovereignty over evil] surfaces within Christianity is that some Christians are consistent enough to say out loud what all Christians, at some level, believe” (Back to Basics, p. 41)
The Apostolic Kick
“I was a pastor for about eleven years before I cam to understand the thoroughness of God’s grace in salvation. Up to that time, my teaching on the subject was a typical hodgepodge of confusion and evasion. As I look back at that time, I now find it interesting, if not somewhat curious, that no …
They Still Don’t Know What It Is
“Each human being is headed for one of two destinations — wrath or salvation. All individuals are foreordained to one or the other, and this foreordination is accomplished without injustice to anyone. Unbelievers who retort that God’s foreordination is unjust take these wonderful doctrines of grace as an occasion to rail against God, thereby demonstrating …
Not the Solution At All
“If Paul is discussing national election through the chapter [Rom. 9], then the Word of God can be of ‘no effect,’ which Paul expressly denies. National election is the problem, not the solution” (Back to Basics, p. 35).
Reason Takes Notes and Does Not Dictate
“I was once speaking with a woman in the Jehovah’s Witnesses who said that she refused to believe in the Trinity because the concept was incomprehensible to her. I asked her if she believed that God was infinite. When she said that she did, I asked her to explain that infinitude in a way that …