Simply By Grace Podcast

This weeks' podcast was used with permission from Learn the Word podcast where Charlie was a special guest with Academic Dean Paul Weaver at the Word of Life Institute. 

Charlie and Paul discussed James chapter 2, arguably the most misinterpreted passage of scripture. Key topics discussed are the context of James, who is James talking to and why?  What is faith?  Are there "kinds of faith" in the Bible? What about the demons? Is there demon faith?  How does James align with the Pauline epistles?

We hope you enjoy this special podcast!

For further reading checkout related gracenotes.

In this podcast Charlie looks at what the key is to Christian unity.  Ever been around Christians you can't stand? Ever wonder why there are so many different denominations? How many church splits have you heard of? When we have problems on the horizontal level with one another, it usually stems from a vertical problem towards God. 

But it's important to have unity for many reasons, one being it affects your witness. The public takes note of disunity and becomes hardened by religion. It's a constant problem of the church. So how do we resolve this and how should we respond? Find out in this episode as Charlie walks us through Paul's words in Philippians.

Charlie spoke at a conference on the topic of moving towards a deeper fellowship  with a focus on the book of First John. Some of the passages in  First John are difficult to deal with, challenging to the believer  not only to understand but also in practice. Charlie helps unwind some of the  issues by  explaining the various views.

One view  says that First John is a series of tests of salvation. Robert Law popularized  this  view, saying First John was about tests of eternal life. Another, John MacArthur, says that there are eleven tests  of salvation in First John. He wrote a book called "Saved Without a Doubt" that walks you through these.  Another however, says First John's focus is tests of fellowship. Dwight Pentecost was probably one of the  first  to  popularize this  view.  There's also an interesting third view, which  says First John was  written  as tests of experiencing eternal life. 

So which is it? How are these understood, how are they applied, what is the result of application?

There are some people who believe disciples are born not made. In other words they claim that every Christian is a disciple. That is to say, when a person first  believes they must meet all the conditions of discipleship in order to be saved.

This is simply not the case though, it creates an impossible standard. Disciples are made not born. This is clear from the life of the Apostle Peter. He is actually given more attention than any other disciple in scripture. As always, that's not by accident. I think God wants us to see Peter as an example of the journey that one takes in the Christian life; from  becoming a believer  to becoming a  disciple.  There  are different stages in a Christian life, Charlie broke this down into three; Curious, Convinced, and Committed.

So follow Charlie as he walks you through the life of Peter in this episode!

There are many organizations in this world that have standards for entrance into the "club." Some charge fees, while other say you must have a certain income level or be from a certain family lineage. But what does it take to get into heaven, what is the standard that must be met? What is the condition for salvation?  Is salvation easy? Is the idea of faith alone in Christ alone lowering the standard to get into heaven or must there be something else? 

It should be noted that faith alone in Christ alone is often referred to as "easy-believism." This is because it does not add additional steps to salvation. The accusation is that if all a person has to do is believe, it's too easy... they say that a person is fooling themselves and in order to be truly saved, they must also go that extra step and commit their life to Christ.

One famous author and theologian makes the accusation that, "the good news of Christ, has given way to the bad news of easy-believism that makes no moral demands on the lives of sinners."  In other words, it's wrong to say, all you have to do is believe in Jesus as your savior and not ask for any kind of commitment or surrender, or personal submission of your life. 

Is this correct? Is there more to believing when it comes to salvation?

Come join Charlie in this podcast as he answers these questions and more!

In this podcast Charlie gets detailed and focuses on the book of John and its intent. Specifically that it's an evangelistic book. There are three aspects that Charlie touches on and the second one is the primary focus of this podcast.

1. Jesus is a divine son, John begins and ends focusing on Christ' deity.
2. Presentation of belief as a proper response to Christ's offer. 
3. Eternal life is the result of belief. "That by believing you may have life in His name."

John's purpose then, was to induce and foster faith. The intent was to lead people to faith. But what were the conditions for salvation? Would we not expect a clear condition if this was the purpose of the book?  The answer is yes!

But is there a "special" kind of faith or belief required?  Listen to find out.

Someone once said "Christians are the only army that shoots its own wounded."  I think we've all seen this before where Christians will place burdens on others that are based on their own standards and not God's, and if they fail to meet the test, or if they're different, then they're out. Christians, in other words, can be extremely intolerant of imperfection or even perceived imperfection in others.  

It was Jesus who said in Matthew 5:7 "Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye." In this regard He stressed the foolishness of criticizing someone else.

In this podcast, Charlie focuses  on Romans chapter 14, more specifically about what it means to be a people of grace. How do we express grace to other people? We'll see how grace gives us the freedom to accept others and their differences. 

Having a good understanding of God's grace that he gave us goes a long way in helping us show that same sort of grace to others and allow us to accept people for being different or accept people for holding different views than our own.

In this podcast, Charlie focuses on the issue of Lordship. What is it, what does it mean, and how does it relate to salvation and discipleship?  Charlie walks you through the Lordship controversy and focuses on three passages. 

In a nutshell, the Lordship view is the belief that Jesus Christ must be recognized as Lord and Master of one's life as a part of salvation. In other words, a person must be at least willing to give up their life or surrender their life to Christ in order to be saved. Advocates of this view say that faith equals obedience. This effectively conflates salvation and discipleship.  The opposite view is often mocked as the "no Lordship" view that denies Christ as Lord. This of course couldn't be further from the truth as you'll find out.

Incidentally, Charlie did his Doctoral Dissertation on Lordship Salvation and provided a biblical evaluation and response, which you can find here on GraceLife. His goal was to write in such a way that it would be a useful tool and could be used by anyone who was interested.  (You can also visit LordshipSalvation.org for related information)

So checkout this podcast as well as his dissertation!

In this episode, Charlie walks through a very controversial passage, James 2:14-26. It's controversial because it's often misunderstood and consequently misapplied. James says some strange things that seem to contradict Paul like "Faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead." But it can be confusing if you don't understand the context and the distinction between discipleship and salvation. 

Most people understand this passage as a call to look at your works to prove you're saved. If you don't have works, it proves you're not a Christian. The problem with this is that it takes the focus off of Christ, who did all the saving, and creates an inward focus by the individual to determine if the works they are doing will be sufficient.

Those same people will also argue that you have to have "biblical faith" or the "right kind of faith" and they pull from James saying "Even the demons believe..." So if you had that right kind of faith then, you're saved. The argument goes like this: "A person who says that he believes in Jesus Christ as Savior, but does not do good works is not really saved. He is like the demons who believe in God but are not saved because they have not submitted to God or obeyed Him." This is at best a careless misuse of the verse. 

Many pastors and theologians explain James this way saying "we are saved by faith alone but the faith that saves is never alone." Sounds like a good example of an oxymoron.

But could James be talking about justification by works before men?  Could he be talking about encouraging Christian growth? The answer is yes, so be sure to listen and find out how to break down this passage and make proper sense of it, and how it can be applied in your walk today.

For further reading checkout Gracenotes #47 Demon Faith and the Misuse of James 2:19. 

In this special podcast, Charlie expounds upon his latest Gracenotes #91 which is a second part in his Gracenotes Common Objections to Free Grace. While certainly not an exhaustive list Charlie explains some of the more common ones, many of which are either strawman arguments or other logical fallacies. Part 2 objections include the following:

• Objection #7: Free Grace theology cheapens grace by not requiring commitment and good works.
• Objection #8: Free Grace teaches that faith is merely mental assent.
• Objection #9: Free Grace is antinomian.
• Objection #10: Free Grace believes a person can apostatize (fall away from the Christian faith) and still be saved.
• Objection # 11: Free Grace is a recent historical and theological aberration.
• Objection #12: The Free Grace Movement is an irrelevant minority movement

Charlie hopes this will help encourage you in your faith and growth in your Christian walk.

So what objections have you run into and how have you answered them?

For further study and objections 1 through 6, see Gracenotes 90 Part 1.