Interview: Freedom from Lust and Alcohol with Chris P. Bacon

What does it really mean to have faith in Jesus? This short animation explores faith as allegiance: believing the gospel and pledging your loyalty to Jesus as King. Beginning with a royal announcement in the Roman world, we explore the language of the gospel, the Greek word pistis, and the connection between faith and obedience. Drawing on the argument in Matthew Bates’s book Salvation by Allegiance Alone, the video asks what changes when we understand faith as loyalty to the risen King. Why does Jesus ask, “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?” And why does James say that faith without works is dead? Obedience does not earn his mercy. It follows from giving him your allegiance. Notes: My new Books: How to Quit Drinking Forever - The Hard Truth for Christians: https://www.amazon.com/How-Quit-Drinking-Forever-Christians-ebook/dp/B0HHQWHGSJ Seven Pretrib Problems and the Prewrath Rapture: https://www.amazon.com/Seven-Pretrib-Problems-Prewrath-Rapture-ebook/dp/B0HMFNTX7P New Bible Prophecy Podcast: Alan’s Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@bibleprophecyanswers My Bible Prophecy Podcast: https://bibleprophecytalk.com/ Animation by Artiseca Studio: https://artiseca.com Explore Matthew Bates’s book, Salvation by Allegiance Alone:https://www.amazon.com/dp/0801097975 Scripture references: Mark 1:15; 1 Corinthians 15:3–4; Matthew 28:18; Luke 6:46; James 2:17. #BiblicalFaith #JesusIsKing #ChristianAnimation

Get the book on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/How-Quit-Drinking-Forever-Christians/dp/B0HHR129DX What does it mean to truly repent—and how can faith in Jesus Christ change your relationship with alcohol? In this complete audiobook, Chris White shares his own journey out of drunkenness and examines what the Bible teaches about repentance, the fear of the Lord, and freedom from sin. He explores faith as allegiance to Christ, the seriousness of Scripture’s warnings, and the power of the Holy Spirit to help believers live differently. Written for Christians who struggle with drinking or have grown comfortable making excuses for it, How to Quit Drinking Forever challenges familiar assumptions and offers a direct call to turn wholeheartedly to God. Alongside biblical teaching, Chris addresses common questions, offers guidance for beginning the Christian life, and tells the longer story of how his own life changed. Listen to all 13 chapters of How to Quit Drinking Forever: The Hard Truth for Christians by Chris White.

In this episode of Vine Abiders, I’m sharing an interview I recently did with Phil Baker on his excellent podcast, Reclaiming the Faith. Phil and I discuss my book The Deformation and explore some of the major theological shifts that have shaped modern Christianity. We begin with my own journey away from Once Saved, Always Saved and then dig into what the New Testament means by the “gospel” and “faith”—including the idea of faith as allegiance to Jesus as King. From there, we discuss Augustine’s influence on Christian theology, original sin and total depravity, Romans 7, Martin Luther and the Reformation understanding of “works,” the Sermon on the Mount, and how the early church understood the death and atonement of Jesus. Toward the end of the conversation, things become more personal as Phil asks me about losing my wife to cancer and what that experience taught me about suffering. We talk about the biblical idea that life is a test, why trials matter, and why the choices we make in the midst of suffering may have eternal significance. Also Mentioned: How to Quit Drinking Forever I recently released a new book, How to Quit Drinking Forever: The Hard Truth for Christians. It tells the story of my own freedom from alcohol and lays out what I believe Scripture teaches about repentance, freedom from bondage, and the genuine power available to Christians—not merely to stop drinking, but to become free from the desire to drink. How to Quit Drinking Forever: The Hard Truth for Christianshttps://www.amazon.com/How-Quit-Drinking-Forever-Christians/dp/B0HHR129DX In This Episode * Why I changed my mind about Once Saved, Always Saved * The gospel as the announcement that Jesus is King * What “faith” means and why allegiance matters * Augustine, original sin, total depravity, and free will * A different way of understanding Romans 7 * Martin Luther, “works,” and the Sermon on the Mount * How Reformation theology changed the understanding of atonement * Penal substitutionary atonement, Christus Victor, and the Old Testament sacrificial system * The scapegoat and what it means for Jesus to “bear” our sins * Why suffering so often becomes a test of faithfulness * What losing my wife taught me about endurance, trials, and eternity Thanks again to Phil Baker for having me on Reclaiming the Faith.

There is a line in Hebrews that Christians quote often, but I am not sure we have always stopped long enough to ask what it actually means. Hebrews says that Jesus became flesh and blood so that through death he might destroy the devil. Hebrews 2:14-15 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. That passage raises several questions. What is “the power of death”? In what sense did Satan have it? How did Jesus’ death destroy the one who had that power? And why would Satan participate in the crucifixion if the crucifixion was the very event that would undo him? That last question is especially important. The New Testament gives us reason to believe that the crucifixion was, in some sense, a mystery hidden from the rulers of this age. 1 Corinthians 2:8 Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. That verse may refer to earthly rulers, spiritual rulers, or both. Either way, the logic is striking. Had they understood what was happening, they would not have crucified Jesus. So what did they misunderstand? More specifically, what did Satan misunderstand? My proposal is that the answer has been hiding in the Day of Atonement ritual, especially in the part of that ritual Christians often neglect: the scapegoat. The Day of Atonement did not involve only one goat. It involved two. One goat was “for the LORD,” slain, and its blood was brought into the holy place. The other goat was sent away alive, bearing the sins of the people into the wilderness, to Azazel. If Christ fulfills the Day of Atonement, then we should expect Him to fulfill both goats, not merely one. The first goat helps explain Christ’s blood, priesthood, resurrection, and heavenly offering. The second goat, I believe, helps explain His descent into Hades and the defeat of Satan. The scapegoat is the Satan-defeating part of the Day of Atonement. That is the thesis. Blood, Life, and the Logic of Atonement Before we can talk about the scapegoat, we need to begin with the first goat and the broader logic of atonement. Jacob Milgrom, the great Leviticus scholar, argued that blood functions in the sacrificial system as a kind of ritual detergent. That may sound strange at first, but the logic is biblical. Blood cleanses because blood contains life. Leviticus gives us one of the clearest explanations in Scripture for why blood makes atonement. Leviticus 17:11 For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement.’. The blood is effectual because of the life that is in it. This matters because sin pollutes sacred space. Israel’s sins defile the camp, the tabernacle, and the place where God dwells among His people. If sin leads to death, then it makes sense that life cleanses what death has polluted. This also means that, in the Old Testament sacrificial system, the slaughter of the animal is not itself the whole act of atonement. The animal is slain so that the blood can be obtained. The blood is then applied to the holy place. That application is the atoning act. This is where David Moffitt’s work on Hebrews becomes important. Moffitt has argued that Hebrews does not treat the cross as the whole of Christ’s priestly offering. Christ dies, rises, ascends, and then enters the heavenly sanctuary as the true high priest. Hebrews says: Hebrews 9:11-12 But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption fo

If you have ever sat through an Easter sermon and walked away faintly dissatisfied with the explanation of why the resurrection matters, you are not alone. Preachers rightly treat it as the hinge of the Christian faith. Paul says that if it did not happen, we are still in our sins, so it clearly has something to do with the atonement. And yet the reasons usually given for it always struck me as thin. I once thought I understood this doctrine well. After a season of reading (the books are listed at the end), I have come to think my old view was not so much wrong as badly incomplete. The reality is stranger and far more important than I had been taught. Let me start with the three answers you have probably heard, and then build toward what I think is actually going on. Three Familiar Answers First, that the resurrection vindicates Jesus’s teaching. Tim Keller put it crisply: if Jesus rose, you have to accept everything he said; if he did not, none of it matters. I more or less agree, but I would hesitate to make rising from the dead the thing that certifies a teacher’s words. The Antichrist, by my reading, will appear to rise from the dead too. More to the point, I cannot find an explicit teaching in Scripture that says we should believe Jesus because he rose. It feels more like worldly wisdom than a biblical argument. I will give Keller the benefit of the doubt, but it does not get to the heart of things. Second, that the resurrection proves Christ’s death accomplished salvation. John Piper frames it as proof that the death of Jesus was an all-sufficient price, that without the resurrection his death was a failure. In this model the resurrection is essentially a receipt: God’s wrath has been satisfied, so he raises his Son to show the transaction cleared. It is intensely cross-centered, and that is exactly what I want to challenge. The atonement could not have been completed until Jesus rose and ascended. If that is true, then the resurrection cannot merely be proof that the work was already finished at the cross. It is part of the work itself. Third, that the resurrection gives us hope of our own. This is the one you hear on Easter most often and at funerals, and it is the one I fully agree with. Christ is the firstfruits; because he rose, we have solid hope that we will too. But there is far more to say, and the deeper reasons are what I want to walk through. What Is the Atonement, Exactly? Before we can say why the resurrection matters, we have to ask a question most Christians never think to ask. What is the atonement? Most people would answer that it is Jesus dying for our sins on the cross. That is not wrong, but it mistakes the opening act for the whole drama. In the logic of the Old Testament sacrificial system, the death of the victim was never the moment of atonement. It was the preparation for it. This is not a controversial claim among scholars of Israel’s sacrificial system. The slaughter of the animal, by itself, accomplished nothing. Its purpose was to obtain the blood, and the purpose of the blood was to be carried to a sacred place and applied. The application was the atoning act, whether that meant sprinkling blood on the mercy seat on the Day of Atonement or on the various implements of the tabernacle. Leviticus 17:11 is about the only place in the Bible that explains why this works: ‘For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement.’ The operative idea is that the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement.. We meet this theme early in Scripture, in the severe prohibition against eating blood. Blood carries life, and that is precisely why it makes atonement. Atonement is fundamentally about cleansing, and life cleanses because what it cleanses is the opposite of life, which is death. Here is the picture, and it is worth holding onto. At the center of the tabernacle dwelt Go