That You May Know

Song: Whosoever Will

Scripture: 1 John 2:1-17

1 John was written to give the believer assurance. False notions—the miraculous witness of Spirit, the once-saved-always-saved concept, the universalist position (that everyone will be saved), original sin, predestination, and others—are ways of giving man easy assurance. They all eliminate faith by either giving faith help—as in the gift of tongues—or by making faith lazy—as in the once-saved-always-saved and other Calvinist teachings. 1 John supplies the source of true assurance.

The testimony of eyewitnesses. “What we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we beheld and our hands handled…” (1:1) is what John and the other apostles proclaimed to believers. Christians have the assurance of the strongest evidence, eyewitness testimony, in the facts that are the foundation for their faith.

The promises of God. “If anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (2:1). We have a book full of promises that God has kept. The promises that He makes to Christians are not made to be broken.

The will of the believer. Given the promises of God and the testimony of eyewitnesses, the final assurance is dependent on the response of the believer himself. “Walk in the light,” “Keep His commandments,” “Love not the world,” “Love one another,” “Test the spirits” are all the tests of true discipleship. Man does not perform these perfectly. We have an Advocate when we fail. Man does his best—and it does require his best. You know when you’re giving your best. God wills your salvation—that’s assured. What’s your will? That’s the question.

Jason Moore

Sunday Morning Starters

"On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread..." (Acts 20:7; NASBU)

On this first day of the week...

Where will you be?

What will you do?

"For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes." (1 Corinthians 11:26; NASBU)

Jason Cicero

More Than A Fish Story

Song: Victory In Jesus

Scripture: Jonah 3:1-10

Jonah lived and prophesied in Israel during the days of Jeroboam II, making him a contemporary of Amos and Hosea. Assyria was in the beginning stages of building an empire, but not the force it would be in later years. Jonah was given the unwelcome task of carrying a message of judgment to the enemies of Israel. It was not fear of his own fate as a messenger that troubled Jonah. He feared that Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, might actually repent and so escape the judgment of God. The lessons of Jonah anticipate the gospel age.

“God is not willing that any should perish,” is a lesson from Jonah. Jonah received one of the greatest responses that a prophet’s message has ever received, yet he pouted (4:1). God’s love for the lost and interest in seeking the lost ought to be shared by His people, His preachers.

“God is no respecter of person.” Even in the OT God had an interest in nations other than Israel. Jonah’s picture of God was too small. You cannot embrace God and at the same time erect fences between you and your neighbor who needs God.

“No sign will be given this generation but the sign of Jonah” was the application Jesus drew from the book. Jonah was “dead” for three days in the belly of the fish, and God delivered him to bring a message of repentance to the Gentiles. This incident in the life of the prophet anticipated Jesus.

Jason Moore

The Power of the Cross

Song: Near The Cross

Scripture: 1 Peter 1:1-21

Peter addresses his first epistle to a people without a country, at least presently. They have an inheritance that is otherworldly, “reserved in heaven.” It is the cross that makes this alienation bearable. It is the cross that makes the difference for the Christian and in the Christian’s conduct.

Christianity changes everything. Your behavior toward your neighbor, your government, your spouse, your employer is governed by a new standard, a higher standard, the standard of the cross. Since Jesus Christ suffered in the flesh, “arm yourselves with this same purpose,” Peter writes (4:1). The Christian is the representative of a higher standard of conduct that will not shame the Master.

Unconditional love is the greatest power of which freewill agents are possessed. The power of the gospel is the change wrought in stubborn, selfish sinners by the spectacle of God’s Son nailed to a tree. God would necessarily use the wisest, most effective tool in His campaign to save the world. He chose the cross. What better tool is there for the Christian to employ in making a difference? “Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps” (2:21).

Don’t cheapen the cross. The cross ought not to be regarded as a sort of Aladdin’s lamp that one rubs whenever he sins with abandon. An attitude of “I’ll sin now, and repent later,” is not hidden from God. “You were not redeemed with perishable things… but with precious blood,” Peter says.

The cross is both the motive for change and the power for living in the life of the believer. That’s Peter’s lesson for the Christian pilgrim.

Jason Moore

Prophet to the Rich and "Religious"

Song: More Holiness Give Me

Scripture: Amos 4:1-13

The prophets are frequently misunderstood, mostly because they are not read. When they are read, they don’t make sense because the situation in which they wrote is unfamiliar to us. If you read the prophets without being acquainted with Kings and Chronicles, it’s like reading someone else’s mail. You know neither the speaker not the recipient, nor the events on the minds of either one. The prophets have messages that are still timely, for those who take the time to understand their admonitions.

Amos was a contemporary of Hosea. He was sent to prophesy to Israel in the 760’s BC, during the reign of Jeroboam II. It was a time of prosperity, but fading prosperity. Israel was in trouble, but she didn’t know it. Assyria was growing in power as Israel grew in decadence, and God, in one more generation, would turn her over to Assyria’s armies.

The oppression of the poor by the rich is a frequent theme in Amos. The “cows of Bashan” in our reading are the wives of the rich who have been grazing off the poor of the land. A wealthy nation like ours should heed the warnings of Amos. The pretend zeal of an irreligious people is another subject of Amos’ rebuke. Israel loved to offer sacrifices but at altars where the worship of Jehovah had been mixed with the pagan practices of the land. God has never had patience with cut-and-paste ritual and devotion.

The words of the prophets were ignored in their own day. It would be a shame for them to be neglected in our own.

Jason Moore

Hosea, God's Lawyer-Prophet

Song: The Love Of God

Scripture: Hosea 3:1-4:6

“The Lord has a case against the inhabitants of the land.” Has a Perry Mason ring to it, doesn’t it? The prophets were in a sense lawyers of God’s covenant. They prosecuted God’s case against His people, and charged them with their breach of His covenant revealed through Moses. “Swearing, deception, murder, stealing, adultery…” were all sins condemned by Moses, but loved by Israel.

Some of God’s lawyer-prophets were sent to Judah, some to Israel, some to both. Hosea was sent by God to the northern kingdom of Israel. He began preaching in the 750’s BC in the reign of Jeroboam II. He continued prophesying for the last 30 years of the northern kingdom, until it fell to the Assyrians in 722 BC, just as Hosea had warned.

Hosea’s call was unique. God asked Hosea to marry a prostitute, and to raise up children by her. It may even by that Hosea raised up children that Gomer, his adulterous wife, conceived by other men (1:2, 9). She left Hosea and returned to her harlotry. In today’s reading, God told Hosea to redeem her from the prostitution in which she apparently worked as a slave or as a member of a pagan cult.

Hosea’s family portrait is the likeness of God and His people, Israel. Israel is unfaithful, worldly, adulterous. Though God could put her away, He will instead redeem her from her harlotry by putting her in captivity. God’s love for man is endless, and His discipline is but an expression of His endless love. That’s one of the great messages of Hosea.

Jason Moore

Heaven's Best

Song: We Have An Anchor

Scripture: Hebrews 4:14 - 5:10

It’s hard to imagine the situation in which Jews who were Christians would be tempted to return to the Law. Perhaps revolt was stirring in Jerusalem and events leading to their last stand against the Romans in 70 AD aroused the sympathies of Jewish believers for their people and awakened ambitions for earthly empire and glory. Perhaps. Whatever the case, they were leaving Christ for that which was inferior. Hebrews was written to Hebrew Christians to stem the tide of backsliding. It has application for Christians in every time.

Jesus is the best of all possible messengers. God sent prophets and angels in times past, but in these last days, He sent His Son. Who else can He send? If you won’t hear Him, who will you hear? Jesus is the best of all possible priests. He not only has experienced all that you have suffered. He has triumphed. Who better to intercede—one beset with his own weaknesses or one who has seen through His own trials so He can see you through yours? If He can’t help you, who can?

Jesus is the best of all possible sacrifices. His death was once and for all. The bulls and goats commanded under the Law, much less the devices men concoct by their own imaginations, cannot take away sin. If the gift of God’s Son doesn’t move you to repentance, what power will?

The gospel is the best of all news for captives of sin, the worst of all maladies. It is the only hope, and the best hope imaginable for sinners.

Jason Moore