Can We Impact People Who Disagree But Are Open?

Summary

Grace in Focus Episode Summary

Podcast: Grace in Focus
Episode Title: Can We Impact People Who Disagree But Are Open?
Date: January 22, 2026
Hosts: Bob Wilkin & Sam Maher

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Overview:

This episode focuses on real-life evangelism, particularly engaging with individuals who initially disagree with the Free Grace perspective, but are open-minded and willing to discuss. Bob Wilkin and Sam Maher explore how to effectively and lovingly communicate the Faith Alone message, address common objections regarding repentance and works, and encourage listeners to use a consistent, scriptural approach focused on assurance and clarity. The podcast uses an actual email exchange as an illustrative case study and concludes with practical strategies and encouragement for engaging fellow Christians—especially those confused about the role of faith, repentance, and salvation.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Case Study: A Positive Email Exchange

• Bob introduces a new approach for the episode:
  Rather than answering a submitted question, Bob shares a recent email exchange with a listener (“KM”) who raised concerns about the message in an article by Zane Hodges regarding Christ’s sacrifice and the conditions for salvation.
  • KM’s Initial View: He was concerned that Hodges' message sounded like universalism and questioned whether it “voids the condition of salvation…to repent and believe.”
    (00:56–02:27)

2. Responding with Scripture: Faith vs. Repentance

• Bob responds by pointing KM to Gospel of John passages where Jesus offers eternal life without mentioning repentance (John 3:16, 4:14, 11:25–27, 20:31). He emphasizes,

  “He never mentions repentance, and he never mentions turning from sin. So what do you think of that?”
  (02:27)

• Sam observes:
  Many people are hard to persuade due to tradition, but he asks Bob how KM responded when presented verses without “repentance.”
  (03:25)

• Bob’s approach:
  He asks KM for specific verses that link repentance directly to receiving everlasting life, encouraging examination of what scripture actually says.
  (04:17)

3. Evaluating Common 'Repent and Believe' Passages

• KM cites passages like Mark 1:15, Acts 17:30, and Matthew 4:17, which use repent/believe language.
  (04:57–05:23)

• Bob and Sam clarify:

  • Those passages announce the nearness of the kingdom, or a call to repentance in general, but do not say repentance is the means for everlasting life.

  • The context often differs (e.g., John’s ministry vs. Jesus’ evangelism in John).

  • “Everlasting life isn’t there…we can see that it’s a different message there.” – Bob Wilkin (05:02–05:12)

  • Sam: “He calls all men everywhere to repent.” (Acts 17:30) But not specifically for eternal life. (05:23)

4. The “Broken Record” Approach

• Sam labels Bob’s method:

  “The broken record approach…what you come back to is none of those verses talk about everlasting life…what we find again and again and again in the Gospel of John is the one who believes in Jesus has everlasting life. And there’s no mention of repentance or any other anything.”
  (07:31–08:21)

• Bob adds:
  He’s encouraged that KM’s follow-up questions show real engagement and curiosity.

5. Addressing the “Easy Believism” Objection

• KM’s next concern:
  If salvation is by faith alone, “does that mean I can just live however I want?” Doesn’t that promote “antinomianism and easy believism?”
  (08:21)

• Bob’s response:

  “Someone could be living a life of sin and still be a believer. That doesn’t change the fact that what Christ says allows for those two things to be true at the same time."
  He uses the prodigal son parable as an illustration.
  “At no point in that parable was he ever not a son.”
  (08:21–09:47)

6. Evangelizing Evangelicals

• Sam notes:

  “Most evangelicals need evangelizing. …We also want to evangelize people from within Christianity who are confused who believe in faith plus works or faith plus repentance.”
  (09:47)

• Personal testimony:
  Bob recalls coming to faith after hearing Ephesians 2:8-9 repeatedly through this same “broken record” method.
  (11:00)

• Clarity on Christ’s work:
  The message isn’t “you have to clean up your life,” but rather that “he’s dealt with your sin problem. He’s removed that barrier. So now you don’t need to clean up your life or turn from your sins. What you need to do is believe in him.”
  (11:19)

7. Truth in Love: The Tone of the Message

• Bob prefers to call this approach “truth in love”:

  “There’s no snark, there’s no sarcasm…Sharing God’s word, but doing it in a way that doesn’t push people away, it makes them want to seek it for themselves.”
  (12:09–12:13)

• Sam concludes:

  “Truth and love is a wonderful way to share the message of eternal life…we’re wanting people to grasp the good news that simply by faith in Jesus we know we are secure forever. Let’s all keep grace in focus. Amen.”
  (12:29)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Bob Wilkin (on helping KM):

  “He never mentions repentance, and he never mentions turning from sin. So what do you think of that?” (02:27)

• Sam Maher (on persuasion):

  “…it's awful hard to convince them that it's by faith alone.” (03:25)

• Bob Wilkin (explaining Gospel of John):

  “These are all examples of Christ evangelizing or clarifying the saving message, all talking about eternal life… he never mentions repentance, and he never mentions turning from sin.” (02:27)

• Sam Maher (on most evangelicals):

  “Most evangelicals need evangelizing.” (09:47)

• Bob Wilkin (on assurance):

  “We can’t look to the ends to justify what Scripture says. We look to what scripture says to justify the ends.” (08:21)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:56: Introduction of the email exchange with “KM”
• 02:27: Discussion on passages about faith without repentance
• 04:17: Asking for verses linking repentance to everlasting life
• 05:02–05:43: Examination of Mark 1:15, Acts 17:30, and Matthew 4:17
• 07:31: Introduction of “broken record” approach
• 08:21: The objection: "easy believism" and living in sin
• 09:47: Evangelizing evangelicals; importance of assurance
• 11:19: Clarifying the message: Christ’s work and faith
• 12:09–12:29: The “truth in love” approach and encouragement

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Final Thoughts

This episode offers a practical look at how to gently but persistently share the Free Grace message with open but questioning believers—returning to core Gospel passages, maintaining clarity and consistency (“broken record”), and fostering real assurance. The “truth in love” approach underscores the importance of patience, relationship, and scriptural fidelity in evangelism and dialogue.

Transcript

[Announcer]

The following is a listener supported ministry from the Grace Evangelical Society. Jesus has taken away the barrier to God by his sacrifice for sin. But there is still one thing left to keep a person from eternal life. What is it? Friends, thank you for joining us today. This is Grace in Focus. We are a broadcast and podcast ministry of the Grace Evangelical Society. Our website is faithalone.org and there you can find out about our subscription free magazine magazine. It's published six times per year bimonthly and it is free only if you live outside the lower 48 contiguous United States do you need to pay the postage. So get signed up today. We want you to have it sign [e-mail] and now with today's question and answer discussion, here are Bob Wilken and Sam Maher.

[Bob Wilkin]

So, Bob, I've got something a little different. Rather than just taking a question from our email and answering it, I wanted to share a little, little email exchange I had with someone. We had a guy who, he was asking a question about a Zane Hodges article that he read. And so he asked me some questions about it and I responded. And then we had a, you know, a few emails back and forth. And I wanted to bring it up because I do this a lot and a lot of the times people either just never have anything to say about the feedback I give or respond negatively with, well, no, that's not true. Here's what's accurate. And so sometimes I'll get into it with people through email. But I wanted to share this one because this was really encouraging because I shared the Faith Alone message and he seemed to respond very positively to it when that was clearly not his initial view.

[Sam Maher]

We're calling this person KM KM read an article by Zane Hodges in which he was basically saying that Christ died for everyone, for the sin of everyone. So that the issue in salvation is not our sin, it's that we're dead and we need life. And his point is, in Revelation 20:15, those who are cast into the lake of fire are those whose names are not in the book of life. It says nothing about those whose works aren't good enough or who have too many sins. And yet KM Was thinking it sounded like universalism to him. That was his initial concern, right?

[Bob Wilkin]

Yeah, he said that. Which I did explain that. And I think I got him to not think that Zane Hodges is a universalist. But what I really wanted to focus more on my conversation with him is here's a quote from his email. He says, this seems to void the condition of salvation. That is to repent and believe. And so immediately I was like, okay, I see where this guy's coming from. If you have to believe and repent, then clearly he's gonna be confused by a verse like that in Revelation and then any verse from the Gospel of John, because the word repent doesn't appear in that gospel when Christ is talking. So that's where I went and I shared him John 3, 16, 4, 14, 11, 25, 27, and then John 20:31 and told him, look, these are all examples of Christ evangelizing or clarifying the saving message, all talking about eternal life. And he never mentions repentance, and he never mentions turning from sin. So what do you think of that?

[Sam Maher]

Yeah, see, that's a great question, because my experience has been with a lot of people who believe that it's believe and repent. With a lot of those people, they're not particularly open. A lot of those people I've met are people who are convinced they're right because of their tradition, whatever their background is. If they believe, it's repent and believe. Or in the case of churches in Christ, they have some other things in there too. But it's at least repenting and believing. It's awful hard to convince them that it's by faith alone. So how did KM respond when you pointed into various verses that didn't mention repentance? Because a lot of people will say, yeah, but you've got to take all Scripture into account so they start quoting repentance verses. Did he not do that well?

[Bob Wilkin]

Well, he responded first with the only criteria is belief. It's not belief and repentance. And so then I added some more clarification. I encouraged him, well, what are some verses that say repent and believe for everlasting life or repent and believe to go to heaven or because, you know, there aren't any. So I wanted to kind of encourage him rather than just say, take my word for it. Let's say, here's what the Bible says. I think the Gospel of John is clear, and that's where I'm going to stand. So what are the verses that you would use? And so he brought up some verses from Mark, Acts and Matthew, Mark 1:15. The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is drawn near. Repent and believe in the Gospel.

[Sam Maher]

We've talked about that before. That gospel is the good news that the kingdom is drawn near.

[Bob Wilkin]

Exactly. And it's repent and believe together. But everlasting life isn't there life isn't there eternal Life. None of the other words that we find in the Gospel of John are with it.

[Sam Maher]

Right.

[Bob Wilkin]

So we can see that it's a different message there. And then he brought up Acts 17:30. Therefore, having overlooked the times of ignorance, God now charges all men everywhere to repent.

[Sam Maher]

Yeah, which is great, but it doesn't say he calls all men everywhere to repent so they can have eternal life. He calls all men everywhere to repent.

[Bob Wilkin]

Right. And then we have Matthew 4:17, which this is. I think one of the most famous ones used for this is from that time Jesus began to proclaim and say, repent, for the kingdom of heaven has drawn near.

[Sam Maher]

Look in your Bible to Matthew chapter 3. I think it's around verse 5. John the Baptist ministry has those exact same words, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. It's around Matthew 3:5 or so verse.

[Bob Wilkin]

2, and saying, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

[Sam Maher]

So Matthew 3:2, Repent for the kingdom of heaven. And then 4:17 is Jesus saying, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Now, this probably is not the beginning of Jesus ministry, because it appears from the Gospel of John that the wedding of Cana was before this, and his ministry with Nicodemus was before this. And that Jesus ministry began with talking to people about the free gift of eternal life. But he did preach, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand, but not in order for individuals to be born again, in order for the kingdom to come for Israel.

[Announcer]

We will rejoin in just a moment. But years ago, Zane Hodges wrote the Gospel Under Siege. Sadly, this is still true, and GES President Bob Wilkin has recently written its sequel. Bob's new book, the Gospel is Still Under Siege, is a book about theological clarity on the biblical teaching about eternal salvation. It is available now secure yours today and at the Grace Evangelical Society's bookstore. Find [e-mail] store. That's faithalone.org store. Now back to today's content.

[Bob Wilkin]

And so I think he's starting to grasp what I was saying about there's a separation between belief and repentance. Repentance is significant, but it's not a factor of receiving everlasting life or not. And I think he's starting to understand that based on his email.

[Sam Maher]

That is great. And you know what the name is for the approach you're using here? It's called the broken record approach. In other words, he brings up verses like Acts 17:30 or Mark 1:14:15, or Matthew 4:17. And you may or may not give a short explanation of those, but what you come back to is none of those verses talk about everlasting life or being with the Lord forever, or having salvation that cannot be lost. And none of them are mentioning believing in Jesus either. As a result, you got him to see through that broken record approach that what we find again and again and again in the Gospel of John is the one who believes in Jesus has everlasting life. And there's no mention of repentance or any other anything.

[Bob Wilkin]

And I'm really encouraged because then his email goes on and he starts asking a lot of other really, really good questions that are natural responses to the things I've told him. If you believe it's faith alone in Christ alone, it's a free gift, then there are other questions that you need to ask when you get to other parts of the Bible. Like the next question he asked was, it's bugging me because if we simply believe, but then we live like the devil, it opens the door to, he says, antinomianism and easy believism. That's a question that a lot of people ask is, well, does that mean I can just live however I want? And some people will answer that with the sort of back door work salvation answer of, no, of course you can't. If you start living like the devil, then you weren't saved to begin with. Yeah, but my answer to him, again, I guess you're right. The broken record is we can't look to the ends to justify what Scripture says. We look to what scripture says to justify the ends. Even if that's a hard thing to wrestle with. Someone could be living a life of sin and still be a believer. That doesn't change the fact that what Christ says allows for those two things to be true at the same time. And then I gave him the prodigal son example of here's a son, a child of God, a believer, and he lives in sin. He squanders what Christ has given him, but then he returns and he's accepted back because his father was waiting for him. At no point in that parable was he ever not a son.

[Sam Maher]

That is so good. One of the things I like to say is that most evangelicals need evangelizing. And what I mean by that is we don't have to go out and find atheists to evangelize. Yes, we want to evangelize atheists. Yes, we want to evangelize Buddhists and Hindus and Muslims, but we also want to evangelize people from within Christianity who are confused who believe in faith plus works or faith plus repentance. In the case of km, he may have been born again before you started interacting with him. He might not, but either way, he's not going to have assurance unless you can bring the message around to him. And I would like to encourage each of you share this simple message with family members, with friends. It's so much easier to evangelize the way that Sam is talking about. Most people in the world today know that Jesus died and rose again, or at least they know that command or that teaching in scripture. And most people understand they're sinners. The real question is, do they know that simply by faith in Jesus they have eternal life? And that's where I came to faith. With the same approach you use, the broken record. Warren Wilkie used Ephesians 2, 8, 9 and he must have quoted it 50 times to me over the course of five days. I met with him five one hour sessions and I finally got it and I finally realized it's just by faith, apart from works. And all of us can help people see that simple message. And so we do share about the fact that Christ has taken care of our sin problem. That was the article that Cam had trouble with at the first, but we don't share it from the standpoint of. So that means you've got to deal with your own sin problem. We share the point. He's dealt with your sin problem. He's removed that barrier. So now you don't need to clean up your life or turn from your sins. What you need to do is believe in him. You need to get in the book of life. And so it's a real beautiful approach, this broken record approach. And the Gospel of John is so important for this because over and over again we see the three elements. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ for what he promises, everlasting life.

[Bob Wilkin]

Yeah, I'd rather call it the truth in love approach.

[Sam Maher]

Truth in love, okay.

[Bob Wilkin]

I think that's what it is. There's no snark, there's no sarcasm, there's no demeanor, there's no emotions of you're a sinner, you're evil. Sharing God's word, but doing it in a way that doesn't push people away, it makes them want to seek it for themselves.

[Sam Maher]

Truth and love is a wonderful way to share the message of eternal life either with people who are born again or people who aren't. Either way, we're wanting people to grasp the good news that simply by faith in Jesus we know we are secure forever. Let's all keep grace in focus. Amen.

[Announcer]

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[Bob Wilkin]

The proceeding has been a listener supported.

[Announcer]

Ministry from the Grace Evangelical Society.