Several years ago, I heard someone tell the story of how Moody Church pastor Erwin Lutzer would take seminary students to a cemetery and teach them how to preach.  Well recently, I had the opportunity to record a Footsteps interview with Dr. Lutzer in TWR's Studio One, and before the end of our conversation, just like Lt. Columbo used say from his long-running television series, I turned to Dr. Lutzer and said, "Just one more thing sir... ," and I finally had the opportunity to record his cemetery story firsthand.  You must hear this illustration of God's grace in salvation!  It is memorable.  

And, as a bonus, let me leave you with an excerpt of a sermon from the late Voddie Baucham.  In a message titled "The World, the Flesh, and the Devil," delivered at the 2014 Ligonier Ministries National Conference, Voddie Baucham preached ...

"I don't care how many times you've heard the illustration--you're sinking; you're drowning; you're about to go down for the last time, and God throws you a life preserver, but you gotta grab it.  Dead men don't grab!  You are a rotting corpse.  You are not ALMOST dead.  You are not NEARLY dead.  But you're dead, which means that the only hope is the grace of God."(1)

The apostle Paul explains it this way in Ephesians 2:

"But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loves us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ--by grace you have been saved--and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus." (Ephesians 2:4-6, ESV)

Thank you Lord Jesus for your miraculous grace in salvation!

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(Photo of Andy Napier with Dr. Erwin Lutzer in TWR's Studio One)

1. Voddie Baucham, 2014, "The World, the Flesh, and the Devil,"  2014 Ligonier Ministries National Convention, accessed October 24, 2025, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yaj7tBY2UGI.