In our second of two episodes on the implications of covenant theology, Jon and Justin consider the purpose and point of the whole Bible. It's not an instruction manual. It's not a step-by-step guide to godliness. It's not a medicine cabinet to cure everything that ails us. Rather, the Bible is about redemption. It's about Jesus. The guys unpack the implications of that and consider how to go to the Bible, how to use it, and how to understand it.

For many people, when they go to Old Testament, they leave confused. The Old Testament seems to be a disjointed collection of stories and full of different kinds of literature that don't seem to hang together. When seen through the lens of covenant theology, the Old Testament, is a cohesive presentation of God and his plan to save sinners through his promised Christ. Who is this God? What is he like? Can he be trusted? How will he save us? Jon and Justin discuss these questions and more in today's episode.

People make various diagnoses of what ails the church today. To some, it's a loss of a commitment to moral and social values. To others, it's a general lack of acceptance. To others, it's that we don't preach obedience and holiness enough. If we were to fix these things, would it cure what ails us? Jon and Justin consider these questions and suggest that the issue in so much of the church today is that we're preaching an anemic gospel.

Many people, if they were honest, would admit to being confused by the Bible--but not only confused, discouraged. It shouldn't be this way. The Bible is the testimony about Jesus Christ, who came to save sinners like us. In it, we should see our only true and lasting hope. How should we approach the Bible in order to better understand it in light of Christ? What are things we need to know so that the Bible becomes a balm for our souls, rather than a billy club?

Many people are listening to The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill. Many people have been impacted by Mark Driscoll and Mars Hill Church--in positive and negative ways. It seemed appropriate to us to have a conversation about the podcast. Our aim is not to cast shade on Mark Driscoll or Mars Hill, but rather, to consider things that we all can learn. We bring on our newest regular contributor, Patrick Crandall, for this conversation.

Is your faith genuine? We all struggle. We all wrestle. We all doubt. That's part of what it means to be fallen, but this produces real questions: Is the message regarding faith in Christ legitimate? If so, what is saving faith? How should we define it? And what about that bit about the demons believing? Jon and Justin seek to answer these questions from the Scripture and from the confessions.

On today's episode, we have a special guest, David VanDrunen. We talk about the doctrine of Two Kingdoms and its implications. In short, we talk about Christianity and culture. What are Christians to be doing? What is the mission of the church? Are we to be ushering in the kingdom of God? We answer these questions and more.

There are so many unrealistic expectations heaped upon pastors and congregants in the popular church. And there hasn't been much sound thinking on what really matters. Maybe you've experienced this? Maybe you're exhausted? Confused? In this episode, the guys seek to make the main things of church life clear--in order to set us free for life in the body of Christ.

In this second of two episodes on Lordship Salvation, Jon and Justin seek to further clarify concerns about LS theology. These concerns include: (1) confusion about the order of salvation; (2) a redefinition of faith; (3) a collapsing of law and gospel; (4) confusion on the uses of the law; and (5) a confusion of the relationship between justification and sanctification.

Life in this fallen world is often hard. We struggle in our minds and hearts with any number of things. We fight against our own sin and are affected by the sin of others. In other words, the reasons for discouragement are many. Not surprisingly, we continually find ourselves in a battle against discouragement. If that is you, you are not alone. What can we say to these things? What hope is there in the struggle? Jon, Justin, and Jimmy discuss these things on today's episode.

Listening to many preachers and teachers, it sounds like God, deep down, hates the world. Yes, he sent his Son to save sinners, but he does that only for his own glory--and even then, reluctantly. Jesus, too, really didn't care for sinners. He came holding his nose and was really on earth to rebuke everyone. This presentation of God has produced a lot of fear, or perhaps even hatred of him. But, the question is, is this presentation biblical? Jon and Justin consider that on this episode.

Here's a controversial statement: Faith never saved anybody. While that may sound shocking to many Christians, it's true. Faith doesn't save sinners; Jesus does. Faith is simply the means through which the merit and work of Christ are applied to us. Jon and Justin talk about the confusion that exists in the church today and how we tend to place our faith in things that don't save.