Devotionary

The opening lines of the book of Esther set the stage for a showdown between the rich and powerful King Ahasuerus and the unseen, all-powerful God of the universe.

In this episode we get an up-close and personal look into the wealth and power of King Ahasuerus. It is meant to set up a confrontation that will come later in the book between the almighty king and God Almighty.

What happens when King Ahasuerus has his sovereignty challenged by his own queen? And now will this one woman's seemingly independent actions impact all that is to come?

King Ahasuerus gets the royal snub when his queen refuses to put herself on displayh for the benefit of his drunken party guests. But this domestic dispute is going to have long-term and empire-wide ramifications that the king and his wise men could never have imagined.

King Ahasuerus is having second thoughts about his decision to banish his queen, but with the help of his counselors, he comes with an ambitious plan to find her replacement. And what happens next is far more than a case of fate or coincidence.

Esther, a young Jewish girl, finds herself part of a competition to audition for the role of queen of Persia. And the amazing thing is, she won. But was this just a case of good genes and good looks? Or is something bigger going on than even Esther could imagine?

In this episode we begin to see how God is working behind the scenes, weaving together a series of seemingly disparate and disconnected events in order to accomplish His divine will.

This lesson will introduce us to Haman the Agagite, a powerful man who will become a formidable enemy of Mordecai and the Jewish people. But we will also see the sovereignty of the king come face to face with the sovereignty of God Almighty.

Haman plots the extermination of the Jewish people and receives the approval of the king. But these two powerful men are not the arbiters of their fates or those of the people of God. There is a greater Sovereign at work, even thought He appears to be silently absent.

As the king's edict legitimizing the kingdom-wide extermination of the Jews makes its way around Persia, it would be easy to assume that God is silent and unseen. But it is always dangerous to rule God out just because it seems He has failed to show up.

In this episode we begin to explore the behind-the-scenes nature of God's involvement in the events recorded in the story. He is there and nothing that happens does so without His divine approval and providence.

Esther has just been informed by Mordecai about the king’s decree authorizing the mass extermination of all the Jews in his kingdom. This had been the brainchild of Haman. Now Esther finds herself in a tenuous position of having to use her access to the king to beg for mercy for her people.

Esther has been given the unenviable task of approaching the king and begging that he spare the Jewish people by retracting the recent decree that had granted Haman’s wish to have them eliminated. But Esther is not alone. Whether we see Him or not, the God of Israel is by her side. He has given her a plan and the confidence to enact it. And whether she realizes it or not, Esther will be an instrument in His hands. Be sure to take a look at the passage when you get the chance.

In today's episode, we’ll see Haman’s arrogance on full display, as his pride drives him down a path that will ultimately lead to his own destruction. Haman was powerful, but he was no match for the all-powerful God of the universe.

In today's episode, we’re going to see God work some remarkable wonders that turn the tables on Haman’s murderous plans to hang Mordecai on a stake. Instead, he’ll find himself hanging a royal robe on Mordecai’s back and leading a parade in his honor through the streets of Susa. 

The enemies of God’s people are many and their power is formidable, but the key to our survival is not to be found in our own strength, but in that of God. We must learn to lean on His everlasting arms and rely on His all-powerful strength.

Haman is about to discover just what God meant when He said, “Vengeance is mine.” Haman’s bad day was about to get a lot worse. His arrogant pride was going to be obliterated by God and his pompous plans for the destruction of the Jews was going to be turned against him. He would prove no match for the all-knowing, all-powerful God.

In this episode we’ll see the ignominious end of the once-powerful, prideful Haman. Unwittingly, he had pitted himself against the all-powerful God of Israel and lost. He had seen Mordecai as his enemy and had chosen to get back at him by attacking the people of God. But God’s people had something Haman would never have: God’s protection.

Haman is gone. But the edict he helped write still looms large in the picture. The Jews still face annihilation. But God is not done. He is still at work, orchestrating His plan for their redemption. And as the final chapters unfold, we will see that His ways, while not always discernible or enjoyable, are always reliable.

This episode covers the days immediately following Haman’s death as Esther continues to deal with the looming impact of the king’s edict calling for the destruction of all the Jews in the kingdom of Persia. Only eight months remained until that fateful day. But that would be plenty of time for God to implement a plan that result in their redemption instead of their annihilation.

Today's episode covers the issuing of a second edict in the king’s name and sealed with his royal signet ring. Since the first edict commanding the annihilation of the Jews could not be rescinded, a second edict was issued giving the Jews permission to defend themselves. The battle lines were being drawn and the enemies of God’s people were going to find themselves on the wrong side.

An amazing and God-ordained reversal of fortunes is about to take place for the Jews. Standing at the brink of annihilation, they will suddenly find themselves the unlikely victors over their more powerful enemies. Through a series of seemingly fortuitous events, they’ll be the undeserving recipients of God’s mercy and grace.

Whether reading the story about a young Jewish girl who lived many centuries ago or simply looking at the daily affairs of our own life, it is sometimes easy for us to miss God in all that is going on. We can even assume He is not there. But God never goes anywhere. He never leaves or abandons His people. And while things in Susa appeared to indicate just the opposite, Esther, Mordecai and the rest of the Jews discovered that their God wasn’t missing at all

After their miraculous deliverance from the threat of possible extinction, the Jews were in a celebratory mood. They instituted a yearly festival to commemorate their victory over their enemies, complete with gift giving and eating. But much like our annual celebration of Christmas, there was something missing in all the joy and festivities: Any mention of God.

The entire story of Esther takes place in a distant land ruled over by a pagan king. The people of Israel find themselves living in a foreign country, far from the homeland, but not far from their God. While they had seemingly forgotten Him, He would prove Himself faithful and loving, gracious and kind.

In the opening verses of chapter one, the author is going to introduce us to a very special character, who he will leave unnamed until verse nine. But I think you’ll recognize Him without any problem

In these three short verses, the author of Hebrews provides us with seven facts concerning Jesus and endeavors to show just how incomparable He truly is. Jesus is not only sufficient, He’s superior in every way. There’s nothing that compares with Him. There is no one who can equal Him in holiness, honor, importance, and power. He is the incomparable, inimitable God.

The author of Hebrews continues his comparison between Jesus, the Son of God, and angels, the messengers and servants of God. Jesus is uncreated. He is a member of the Trinity, the Gohead. His humanity, as evidences by His incarnation, in no way diminished His deity. He remains the Son of God and sits at the right hand of God the Father, where He intercedes on our behalf until the God-appointed day of His second coming.

This episode deals with the very real danger every follower of Christ faces – that of drifting away from the truth and hope of the gospel. Each and every day we find ourselves facing circumstances that tempt us to doubt the veracity of God’s Word and lose hope in the promises found in His Word. The danger we face is not the loss of our salvation, but the ability to enjoy the more abundant life that Jesus promised us.

Today's episode deals not only with Jesus’ subjection and suffering on the cross for our sake, but also His future return when everything and everyone will be in subjection to Him. Jesus took on human flesh and subjected himself to a sinner’s death on the cross. But His death was so that we might have life – eternal life – and His resurrection assures us that one day He is coming back to finish what He started and establish His kingdom on earth. 

Solidarity, suffering and salvation. According to the author of Hebrews, we have these three things in common with Christ. We are one with Him because of His death on the cross, and as a result, we share in His sufferings. But we also share in His salvation, having been freed from slavery to sin because of His payment of our debt with His own life.  

The title for this episode is, “Consider Jesus” because the author of Hebrews is challenging us to do just that, to take a long, hard look at Jesus as the founder and perfecter of our faith. Moses may have delivered the Israelites out of captivity in Egypt, but Jesus provided deliverance from sin and death. The sacrificial system could provide temporary remission of sin, but only Jesus could provide a permanent solution to the presence and power of sin. And that is truly something worthy of our consideration.   

Today, in Hebrews chapter three, verses 7-19, we’ll be taking a look at the ever-present danger of disbelief.  The author of Hebrews is not addressing a lack of belief in Jesus as Savior, but a temptation on the part of Christians to doubt God and turn from trusting in Him. Belief is not just necessary for salvation, but is an instrumental and non-negotiable part of our life journey. According to the author of Hebrews, even a believer can suffer from an unbelieving heart.    

Today’s episode is called “No Rest For the Weary.” There is a sense in which the original readers of this letter were struggling with finding rest in the finished work of Christ and were being tempted to turn back to the rules and rituals of Judaism. They were being influenced to believe that faith in Christ alone was not going to be enough. There was more they needed to do. But they were being deceived and that deception was resulting in disbelief in the promises of God.     

Today’s episode covers Hebrews chapter four, verses 14-16 and is called “Help In Time Of Need.” The author will present Jesus as our great high priest, a righteous representative who understands us because He was one of us. He was fully God, but fully human, and knew what it meant to be tempted. Yet, without sinning. And now, He makes it possible for us to find mercy and grace, straight from the throne room of God, when we encounter times of need.       

In Hebrews chapter four, verses 1-10, the author discusses Jesus’ appointment by God as a high priest after the order of Melchizedek. This reference to a somewhat obscure character from the book of Genesis has far-reaching significance. Jesus was not from the priestly line of Aaron, yet He was designated a high priest by God Himself. And because He was sinless, He was able to offer the perfect sacrifice – Himself – becoming the source of eternal salvation.      

In today’s episode we will cover the central issue the author of Hebrews seems to be addressing: The message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Message of Righteousness. In a sense, he wanted his readers to know that salvation without sanctification, or spiritual growth, was illogical. Babies are meant to grow. Children are intended to mature. So are believers. But there is always the temptation to settle for the status quo and to become comfortable with where you are, all the while missing out on what God has called you to become.        

The title for this episode is “Hope Until the End.” In it, we will be looking at the very real danger of apostasy or the believer’s falling away from the faith. Apostasy is the direct result of complacency – a spiritual apathy and insensitivity to the remarkable gift we have been given in Christ. Our faith is to be vibrant and growing, not stagnant or satisfied with the status quo. Our hope in Christ is to increase daily, resulting in our ongoing spiritual maturity. That’s why the author of Hebrews encourages us to hope until the end.         

In today’s episode, called “An Anchor For the Soul,” we’ll be in Hebrews chapter 6, verses 13-20. In these verses, the author of Hebrews will talk about holding fast to the hope set before us. He wants to encourage us to endure by keeping our hope firmly placed in the One who endured the shame of the cross on our behalf. He has promised to return some day. And because God does not lie, we can have hope, like an anchor for our soul in the storms of life.       

Today, we’re covering Hebrews chapter 7, verses 1-10. In this passage, the author brings back the Old Testament character, Melchizedek. And once again, he will compare Jesus to this ancient priest-king, but clearly presenting Jesus as superior in nature and importance. The issue here is one of blessing, how Melchizedek blessed Abraham, even though Abraham had done nothing to deserve his blessing. In the same way, believers have been blessed by Jesus, our great high priest, and received the righteousness of God and peace with God – all according to God’s grace and mercy, not our merit.   

Today, we’ll be in Hebrews chapter 7, verses 11-22. The title for this episode is “A Better Hope” because the author of Hebrews is going to present Jesus as just that: A better hope. Jesus, as the new and improved high priest, provided a way for sinful men to be made right with and draw near to God. Jesus provided a better way, a better sacrifice, and a better guarantee of a having a right relationship with God that will last for eternity.      

Today’s episode finds us in Hebrews chapter 7, verses 23-28. I’ve entitled this episode “Once, For All” and in it, we will take a look at radical difference between the never-ending, incomplete nature of the sacrificial system and that of Jesus’ never-to-be-repeated, fully sufficient sacrifice of His own sinless life. And Jesus, unlike the priests who administered the sacrifices in the Temple, required no cleansing from His own sins before His sacrifice could be made. He was sinless and, therefore, the perfect priest to offer the perfect sacrifice.      

This episode is called “Better In Every Way” and in it we’ll look at the overall superiority of Jesus based on the new covenant He established with His blood. As we have already seen, Jesus is the great high priest and with the sacrifice of His own life, He paid the price for the sins of mankind and satisfied God’s holy requirement that justice be done. The new covenant is better because it did what the old covenant could never do: Provide complete forgiveness for sin and a restored relationship with God based on a righteousness we could have never achieved – that of Jesus.      

Today’s episode, titled, “Better Promises” takes us into Hebrews chapter 8, verses 8-13. In them, the author of Hebrews relies on the Old Testament Scriptures to drive home his point that Jesus is the better high priest offering a better sacrifice as part of a better covenant based on better promises. He will elaborate, in detail, just what those promises entail, specifically for the people of Israel. The old covenant, with its rules, rituals and regulations had been done away with. With Christ’s death, burial and resurrection, it had been replaced with the new covenant. And now, our obedience to the will and law of God is not based on outward motivation, but the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit.       

Today’s episode brings us to chapter nine of Hebrews, verses 1-10. It’s called “The Time of Reformation.” With the coming of the new covenant, made possible by Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection, things underwent tremendous change, especially those things related to the old covenant. Whether you look at the tabernacle in the wilderness or the temple in Jerusalem, you see two structures that were filled with deep meaning and important symbolism. Dividing curtains that separated the Holy of Holies from the Most Holy Place. The mercy seat. The ark of the covenant containing Aaron’s rod and the jar filled with of manna. And then there was golden the altar itself. But Jesus did away with all these things. Along with redemption, He brought reform.         

Today, we’ll be in Hebrews chapter nine, verses 11-15. In this episode, entitled “Blood Bought,” we’ll see that Jesus’ death was effective because His innocent blood was shed. He paid the penalty for our sin with His own blood. Which is exactly what He foreshadowed to His disciples that night in the upper room when they celebrated the Passover meal together. He said, “this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matthew 26:28). With His death, Jesus bought us, redeemed us, out of slavery to sin and death so that we might be made righteous and enjoy a right relationship with God.           

In today’s episode, we’ll be in Hebrews chapter nine, verses 16-28. It’s called “He Died. We Live” and continues the author’s treatment of the superiority of Christ’s sacrifice. He died so that might live. He gave His life in order that we might be imputed His righteousness and enjoy a right standing with God the Father based on His merit and not our own. And the best part of Christ’s sacrifice is that it not only included His resurrection and ascension back into heaven, it guarantees His return. He is coming back. Not to deal with sin, but to save those who are eagerly waiting for Him.           

Today we move into chapter ten of Hebrews verses 1-10. This episode is entitled, “The Good Things To Come” and will reveal how the old covenant of the law was intended to be a shadow of something better to come: The new covenant made available by Jesus’ death on the cross. His selfless, sinless sacrifice was what the Mosaic law and sacrificial system pointed towards, but temporarily and imperfectly. He had to die, the righteous for the unrighteous, so that men might be made right with God.              

Today, we’re in Hebrews chapter ten verses 11-18. This episode is entitled, “Fully Forgiven” and deals with the remarkable reality that, for those who have placed their trust in Jesus Christ as their Savior, their sins have been fully and completely forgiven – once for all. And not as a result of anything they have done, but because of what Christ has done for them. As a result, the author of Hebrews says, God will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.              

This episode covers Hebrews chapter ten verses 19-25 and is called, “Hold Fast.” In these verses, the author of Hebrews is trying to encourage us to consider the incredible nature of Christ’s gift to us. It should create in us a confidence and assurance that shows up in the way we live our lives. He is faithful and true. What He has promised to provide for us: eternal life, He will deliver to us. But in the meantime, we must hold fast and have confidence that His death has provided us with unbridled access to God the Father – even now.     

In today’s episode we’ll be in Hebrews chapter ten verses 26-39. I’ve entitled this lesson, “No Shrinking Back” because it deals with the believer’s need for endurance in the face of all the pressures and problems of this life. The temptation will be to lose hope or to think that what Christ did on the cross was somehow insufficient. The presence of difficulties can lead to doubt, which can result in disbelief. But the author reminds us that we are not those who shrink back. We press forward in faith, trusting the promises of God based on the finished work of Jesus.     

With today’s episode, we move into chapter 11, the great hall of faith. We’ll be concentrating our attention on verses 1-3 in a lesson I’ve entitled, “Faith Described and Demonstrated.” In verse 1, we have what is less a definition of faith than a description. And the author will spend the rest of the chapter demonstrating what true faith looks like in real life. Faith is based on hope. And our hope is based on those things we have been promised by God, but have not yet fully received. Faith is less a commodity than it is a way of life, a means by which we understand the world around us and all that happens to us as we wait for what has in store for us.     

Today, we’ll be looking at a single verse, verse 4, from Hebrews chapter 11. The author has provided us with a description of faith, now he’s going to demonstrate what that faith looks like in real life, using Abel, one of the sons of Adam and Eve. Long-dead, murdered by his own brother, Abel still provides us with a powerful example of the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. The story of Cain and Abel has puzzled Bible readers for millenniums. Why was Cain’s sacrifice rejected by God? Why was Abel’s accepted. How was Abel showing assurance in things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen? And how, even today, is his short-lived life a demonstration of faith?     

In today’s episode, based on Hebrews 11, verses 5-6, we get introduced to a little-known Old Testament character named Enoch. While the record of Enoch’s life and accomplishments is short, he does hold the somewhat unique distinction of being one of just a few men in the Bible who never died. That’s right. The book of Genesis says, he walked with God, and he was not, for God took him. And while that’s a fairly significant claim to fame, the real thing that sets Enoch apart is his faith. He was taken to be with God because he believed and trusted in God – all without having to experience death.    

Today’s episode is called “Flood Assurance” because it deals with the faith of Noah, the famous ark-builder, who is described in verse 7 of Hebrews 11. Noah’s story is a powerful example of faith because it involved a salvation from death that would require some pretty significant steps of obedience in the face of overwhelmingly difficult and seemingly illogical demands by God. Noah’s salvation required faith. But it wasn’t his faith that saved him – it was God. Faith is the subject is the subject of this chapter, but God is the object. It was Noah’s faith in God, not the ark, that saved him. In the face of God’s looming judgment, Noah found mercy, grace, and refuge in the salvation provided by God.

Today’s episode introduces us to Abraham’s wife, Sarah, and lets us know that Abraham was not the only one who had faith in God. But what is interesting is that Sarah seemed to struggle a bit believing that God was going to actually pull off what He had promised. It wasn’t so much that she didn’t trust His promise. It was that He seemed to have missed the fact that she was old and barren. So she just assumed God was going to fulfill His promise some other way. And she was not above giving suggestions. But in the end, she believed God. She was learning that faith is not a commodity, but a way of life.     

In today’s episode, we get to visit with Abraham. His faith story is told in Hebrews 11, verses 8-10. In these three short verses, the author provides us with a succinct synopsis of Abraham’s long life. It was characterized by faith. Abraham obeyed God. But he did so because he trusted God. Now, he didn’t always trust God fully and completely. Sometimes he had his doubts, not so much in God’s promises, but in how He was going to bring them about. Occasionally, he and his wife. Sarah, tried to help God out. But Abraham was going to learn that God’s will is best done God’s way. And Abraham would believe God, right up to the end.     

In today’s episode based on Hebrews 11, verses 13-16, we’ll see that each of the Old Testaments saints to which the author has introduced us so far, all died in their faith. They died without having received what God had promised them. That sounds rather anticlimactic, doesn’t it? Kind of a let-down, a disappointment, until you consider what the author is trying to teach us about faith. He mentions a better country, a heavenly one, that contains a city that God has prepared for them. It was that future promise on which they placed their hope. Not the immediate, temporal blessings of this life.     

Today’s episode covers Hebrews 11, verses 17-19 and deals with one of the most controversial and difficult stories in the entire Bible: God’s command for Abraham to take the life of Isaac, his son. The author of Hebrews uses this real-life event to further illustrate the true nature of faith. Abraham was being commanded by God to do the unthinkable. To us, what God told Abraham to do wasn’t even logical. Was God really asking Abraham to take the life of very son He had miraculously given him? While much of this story may not make sense to us, God’s reasoning and motives can’t be questioned. He is holy, just and righteous in all He does. And He had a perfectly good purpose behind His seemingly unjust command.  .

Today, we’re going to stay in Hebrews 11, verses 17-19 – the story of Abraham’s faith displayed as he prepared to sacrifice his son, Isaac. We’re revisiting this passage because there is a crucial lesson for us to learn from the test that God gives Abraham. What exactly was God testing? Was there something about Abraham He didn’t know and needed to find out? If God is all-knowing, then it would seem that He knew what the outcome would be before anything even happened. So, was the test for God’s benefit or Abraham’s? The way you answer this question will make a huge difference in how you understand God’s declaration of Abraham as righteous because of his faith.

In today’s episode, we’ll be unpacking a single verse, verse 20 in Hebrews chapter 11. It’s a short verse, but is jam-packed with significance. It involves Isaac, the son of Abraham and Sarah, and speaks of the blessings he gave his two twin sons, Esau and Jacob. What makes this particular verse so interesting is that it claims that Isaac pronounced these future blessings on his sons … by faith. And yet, the story of the event, as recorded in Genesis, seems to paint a slightly different picture. Or does it?

Today’s episode is based on another one-verse story of faith, that of Jacob. And it involves another set of twin sons and their blessing by their grandfather. This time, it deals with Ephraim and Manasseh, the two sons of Joseph. Jacob and his family are living in Egypt, on land provided to them by the Pharaoh. At this point, Jacob has no idea when they will return to the land of Canaan. But being old and knowing his days are numbered, he chooses to pronounce a blessing on his two grandsons. And he does so – by faith – trusting God for the eventual outcome and fulfillment of his blessing.     

Today, we’re in Hebrews 11, verse 22. And this one deals with Joseph, one of the sons of Jacob and the young man whose life went from favorite son to hated sibling. Sold into slavery by his jealous brothers, Joseph would end up in Egypt, where his lot would include life as a slave, false imprisonment, and an unexpected, meteoric rise to the second-highest position in the land. But the main thing mentioned about Joseph in the book of Hebrews is his bones. While he fully expected God to fulfill His promise to return the people of Israel to the land of Canaan, he knew he wouldn’t live long enough to join them. But his bones would.

In today's episode, based on Hebrews 11, verse 23, we're going to look at Jochebed and Amram. Not exactly household names. These were the parents of Moses and the author is going to use their actions concerning their newborn son as a further demonstration of biblical faith. Living in a day when the tide had turned against the people of Israel living in Egypt, they were forced to trust God with the life of their son. The Pharaoh was out to destroy him, along with all the other male Hebrew infants. And while the Pharaoh was considered a god by his own people, Jochebed and Amram were putting their faith and hope in the one true God.

Today’s episode is based on Hebrews 11, verses 24-26 and deals with Moses. The great emancipator of God’s people. Moses, as we have already seen, was spared a death as decreed by Pharaoh. His parents, acting out of faith in God, placed their infant son in a papyrus basket and set him afloat on the Nile. Discovered by Pharaoh’s daughter, Moses would grow up the royal court. But the day would come when he would reject his royal pedigree and choose instead to suffer with the people of God. And according to the author of Hebrews, he did so by faith.      

In today’s episode, called “Waiting on God in faith,” we get another glimpse into the faith of Moses. This time, we’ll be looking at verse 27 in Hebrews chapter 11. Moses is forced to leave Egypt because he had killed an Egyptian. But did he leave in a state of fear or faith? The Exodus account seems to paint a slightly different picture than that of Hebrews. But when we combine these two divinely-inspired passages, we get a much clearer picture of what was going on and how Moses left Egypt by faith, not motivated by fear.

In today’s episode, we take another look at the faith of Moses. This time, we’ll deal with his faith as related to the first Passover. The story is found in Exodus chapter 3 and it contains one of the most powerful illustrations of faith as belief in action. Moses would demonstrate that it is one thing to say you have faith in God, but a completely different thing to put shoe leather to that faith by stepping out and doing what God has called you to do ­– no matter how strange it may sound. Sometimes God asks us to do the impossible and improbable. But faith believes and acts on that belief, trusting God enough to obey Him.       

Today, we’ll be in verse 29 of Hebrews chapter 11, and this time, instead of Moses, we’ll be looking at the people he led – the newly-freed Israelites. This verse deals with the well-known and much-debated story of the miraculous parting of the Red Sea. Over the centuries, there have those who have written this story off as either myth or a case of literary license. But the author of Hebrews believed it was a real-life event that revealed the actual faith of flesh-and-blood people like you and me. As amazing as the parting of the Red Sea might have been, the real miracle was that the people of God had the faith to step out and walk the path between those two walls of water. And the author of Hebrews makes it clear that they did so “by faith.”

In today’s episode, based on Hebrews chapter 11, verse 30, we’ll be looking at the faith demonstrated by the people of God when they followed His somewhat crazy-sounding counsel regarding the city of Jericho. It would be their first battle in the promised land and, rather than strapping on their swords and shields and going toe-to-toe with the enemy, there were instructed to spend a week hiking around the walls of the city – in silence. They would eventually defeat the city of Jericho, but without firing a single arrow or throwing a solitary spear.

Today we’ll get introduced to an unlikely character in the great hall of faith found in Hebrews chapter eleven. Verse 31 presents us with Rahab, a woman the author and the book of Joshua both describe as a prostitute. And yet, this woman of ill repute is listed as having had faith in God. In fact, it was her faith in God that kept the spies safe and her family alive. Faith isn’t tied to our spirituality or superior morality. It’s based on the reliability and reality of God. Rahab’s sinful lifestyle had earned her a well-deserved death, but this unlikely source, a prostitute, placed her unwavering faith in God – and lived.

Today’s episode contains a much lengthier list of individuals than we’ve covered so far. As if he is running out of time and space, the author provides with us with six additional names and throws in the prophets for good measure. But the one thing all of these people had in common was their faith. But their faith wasn’t always accompanied by ideal circumstances or perfect outcomes. Each has a different story of faith, but they all share a common focus for their faith: God. Some suffered for their faith. Others discovered the truth that, by faith, it is possible to grow strong even in weakness. Sometimes faith leads to victory. Other times it results in death. But faith in God never disappoints or fails to deliver.

In today’s episode we come to the end of chapter eleven of Hebrews. In these two closing verses, verses 39 and 40, the author sums up all the characters he has listed in his great hall of faith. They were all commended for their faith, but none of them ever received what had been promised – at least not in their lifetimes. God had something bigger, better and greater in store for all of them. Ultimately, their hope and faith had been in God and they had been willing to trust Him for whatever He had in store for them. The fulfillment of all their hopes and the focus of all their faith was the coming of the Messiah, the Savior sent by God to redeem a lost world and provide a means by which sinful men could be made right with a holy God. While all of these individuals made it into the hall of faith, all those who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ also occupy that same space. And one day we will join them, having received something far better than we could ever imagine.

In this episode, we move into chapter 12, verses 1-2. Having met all the Old Testament saints and heard their stories of faith, the author now challenges us to follow their examples. This is where it all gets practical and applicable. The characters found in chapter 11 aren’t there to make us feel small and inadequate. They were not provided as a means to make us question our faith, but to strengthen it. They were men and women just like us. They had doubts, concerns, weaknesses and moments of faithlessness. But they remained faithful to the end. And today, we’ll learn the key for us to do the same thing.

Today, we’ll cover Hebrews chapter 12, verses 3-11. In this passage, the author turns to Jesus as a model for our faith in the midst of difficulties and trials. Jesus lived on this earth as a man. He suffered temptations, yet without sin. He knew what it was like to be hungry and to go without sleep. He was well-acquainted with rejection and false accusations. And yet He was faithful to His Father and lived His life without sin. Jesus suffered. So will we. But like Jesus, we have a future reserved for us in heaven. While we live on this earth, God will lovingly discipline us. He will continue to patiently transform us into the likeness of His Son.

In today’s episode, we’ll look at verses 12-17 of Hebrews chapter 12. In these verses, the author of Hebrews will encourage us to strive after holiness and peace. And not in some isolated, Lone Ranger kind of way, but as part of the body of Christ. Our pursuit of holiness is to be a team effort, aimed at helping one another keep the goal of Christ-likeness our highest priority. The author is going to warn us against three very real threats to our faith: Gracelessness, bitterness and a lack of holiness. As long as we live on this earth, we must keep our eyes on the prize: Our future glorification and the guarantee of our holiness. That’s the objective.

Today we’ll be in Hebrews chapter 12, verses 18-24 in a lesson entitled, “Our Heavenly Home.” As he begins to wrap up his letter, the author points us to the ultimate destination and focus of our faith: Our eternal home. He will contrast Mount Sinai with Mount Zion, comparing the past with the future, the law with grace, and human works with a resting in the finished work of Jesus Christ. Unlike Mount Sinai where the Israelites trembled in fear at the sound and light show accompanied God’s presence and illustrated His holiness, the day is coming when we will enter into God’s presence without fear of judgment and as holy righteous in His eyes.

In today’s episode, we’ll be covering the last portion of Hebrews chapter 12, looking at verses 25-29. In this passage, the author makes yet another comparison between the events surrounding Mount Sinai and the as-yet-to-be events that are associated with the future Mount Zion or Christ’s earthly kingdom. There is a day coming when our faith will no longer be in the hoped for and unseen. There will be a tangible, lasting, and unshakeable kingdom in which we will live for eternity. The things of this earth are temporal and will one day be replaced with the perfect and permanent. This flawed, sin-ravaged creation will be renewed and redeemed by God. And it is for that day we are to confidently, expectantly hope.

Today, we’re in Hebrews chapter 13, verses 1-6. In these verses, the author of Hebrews provides us with a practical expression of faith lived out in real life. Faith in God and a confident hope in the future He has in store for us should show up in tangible, visible forms that make a dramatic difference in the way we live our lives. He’s going to emphasize love, hospitality, and acts of kindness to the mistreated and imprisoned. He’s going to uphold the sanctity of marriage, the lure of materialism, and the need for contentment. Our faith is in a faithful, trustworthy God, who won’t forsake us or allow anyone to do anything to us that is outside His will for us.

In today’s episode, we’ll be looking at Hebrews 13, verses 7-16. In this passage, the author is going to give us some invaluable advice for living the Christian life. As followers of Christ, our lives are to exhibit the distinctive and defining characteristics of consistency and faithfulness. We are to model our lives after those who have exhibited these same characteristics over time, having proven their faith over the long-haul. The pursuit of the new and the novel is not to be a hallmark of our lives. New isn’t always improved. Heresy oftentimes comes disguised as new teaching or new insights into old truths. But we are to be wary. And we are to prove the veracity of anyone’s teaching by the character and outcome of their lives.

Today, we’ll be in Hebrews 13, verses 17-19 which deal with the topic of leaders and the believer’s relationship to them. Leadership is a misunderstood and sometimes, misused part of the Christian faith. Our concepts regarding leadership can be more worldly than godly. Our desire to be a leader can be motivated more by power and position than love and service. So how should we lead and how should we relate to those we have been called to follow? God has appointed leaders within the local church. And He will hold them responsible for how they shepherd those under their care. But it’s hard to lead stubborn sheep. So we all have a role to play.

Today, we’ll wrap up our study of the book of Hebrews. And in this closing passage, found in Hebrews chapter 13, verses 2-25, the author will provide us with a much-needed reminder of God’s peace, power and provision. God is equipping and transforming us. He is protecting and providing for us. We have been made right with Him through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We have His power available to us and living within us in the form of the Holy Spirit. We have everything we need to live a godly life in this life, as we wait for the promise of eternal life.

In today’s episode, we’ll be in Romans chapter 1, verses 1-17. Be sure to take time to read the passage sometime today. In it, Paul is going to introduce us to the Good News of Jesus Christ and emphasize his unwavering commitment to it. For Paul, the amazing thing about the good news, or the gospel, was its ability to make sinful men and women right with God. This is what set the gospel of Jesus Christ apart from all other religions. And it was all based on faith, not human effort or good works. Paul was anxious to visit his brothers and sisters in Rome, but had to be satisfied with writing them a letter. He would fill it with words of warning and encouragement, expressions of gratitude and exhortations to stay true to the gospel message they had received. But in these opening verses, Paul will remind his readers how the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ, is able to make men right with God.

Join us as we begin a brand new study in the book of Romans called The Gospel of God.

Today, we’ll be in Romans chapter 1, verses 18-32, where Paul will introduce us to the bad news. He is going to provide us with the dark reality of sin and how it stands in stark contrast to the Good News found in Jesus Christ. They say you’ll never fully appreciate the good news until you fully understand the bad news. So Paul is going to go out of his way to let us know just how bad things had gotten in the world that God had created. Man, made in God’s image, had chosen to turn his back on God and worship anything and everything but God. And his idolatry had led to increasing immorality and an abandonment by God to their own sinful desires. He gave them over. He left them to their own devices. And the consequences were deadly. Unwilling to give God the glory He deserves, mankind was left to seek after God-substitutes, poor imitations of the real thing that would leave them helpless, hopeless and godless.  

God is angry with mankind because of their sins against Him. But there are some, who, because they see themselves as religious and therefore righteous, believe they are exempt from God’s wrath. They assume that their good works somehow make them deserving of God’s good favor. But Paul has some powerful words of warning to the religious and smugly self-righteous. Don’t confuse God’s kindness and patience with your sin as a sign that He is happy with you. All men have sinned and fallen short of God’s holy standard. And all men, even the religious and self-righteous are deserving of death. Unless of course, they have placed their faith in Christ. Just because some people seem to get away with sin shouldn’t lead us to believe that God somehow approves of their sin. He is just patiently waiting for them to wake up to the reality of their need for a Savior and the forgiveness made possible through His Son.

God is looking for heart change, not behavioral modification. He knows that men cannot live up to His holy standards. The Jews, His chosen people, had proven that fact time and time again. And yet, Paul is forced to talk directly to the Jews in his audience, letting them know that their ethnicity was not enough to save them. The fact that they had been given the law made little difference in their standing with God because they had failed to keep God’s law. Being a Jew didn’t make anyone right with God. If anything, it placed them under greater condemnation because their inability to keep the law should have driven them to His Son as their sin substitute and Savior. Paul reveals that a true Jew is one whose heart is right with God. Not because of anything they have done, but because of what Christ has done for them.

No one is righteous. Those are difficult words to hear and even harder to accept. And yet, Paul is going to drive home once again the fact that what makes the good news about Jesus Christ so great is the very bad news regarding man’s sin. There is no one who deserves salvation. And there is nothing anyone can do to earn it, either. No one is righteous. That’s bad news. But the good news is that we can be made righteous through faith in Christ. What we could never achieve on our own has been made possible for us through the death of Christ. Chapter 3 of Romans is a powerful statement regarding man’s hopeless sinful state and God’s gracious gift of salvation and justification through His Son. We are made right with God, not by human effort, but by simple faith in the sacrificial death of Jesus. The bad news is overcome by believing the good news about Jesus and His sacrifice on our behalf.

Faith can be a fickle thing. Sometimes it shows up in ways that surprise even us. Other times, it can appear anemic and as if it’s on life support. So, how do we go from having a wavering, waffling kind of faith that’s as volatile as the stock market, to a steadily increasing, confidence-increasing kind of faith that can weather the storms of life? Paul would have us consider Abraham, whose faith in God was counted to him as righteousness. Chapter four of Romans is a tribute to this father of the Hebrew nation, who spent his life learning to keep his faith in the promises of God based on nothing more than the word of God. It doesn’t mean he never doubted. It simply means he never stopped believing. He wondered how God was going to fulfill His promises and even tried to give God a helping hand. But his faith never wavered.

Paul has been talking about justification by faith. Men are made right with God, not by works, but by belief in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross. The result of their faith is justification, an undeserved restoration into a right standing with God. But several times in the first eleven verses of chapter five, Paul will say, “not only that.” As if a right standing with a holy God was not enough, Paul says we also have peace with Him. We have gone from enemies to sons and daughters. We have moved from foes to family members. And not only that, we can rejoice even in suffering, because we know that God is going to use it to produce in us endurance, character and hope. And God did all of this for us when we were weak, undeserving, mired in our sins, and deserving of His wrath. Our justification has had unbelievable ramifications.  

What is the Christian’s relationship with the law? On the one hand, Paul will say that the law is holy, just and good. On the other hand, he’ll say that we are no longer under the law, but instead, under grace. In chapter seven he’ll tell us that we have died to the law, so therefore, we are released from it. But Paul’s issue with the law has nothing to do with its authority, just its efficacy. In other words, the law, while holy, was not designed to save. In fact, it can’t save. It can instruct. It can convict. It can condemn. But it will never make anyone right with God. Paul will make it quite clear that the law was given to reveal our sinfulness, not get rid of it. And what makes the law holy is that it is a tangible expression of God’s righteous requirements for mankind. And while any attempt to obey the law and gain favor with God will prove futile, the believer is able to obey out of love, not obligation, and in the power of the Spirit, not the flesh.  

As we move into the first six verses of Romans chapter six, we see Paul beginning to stress our new life in Christ as believers. The good news of Jesus Christ is not just future-focused, promising the reality of eternal life and a glorified, sinless state some time out there in the distance. He is reminding us that we can and should experience new life here and now ­– even in this present age with all its sin, struggles and strife. One of the primary topics of Paul’s letter to the Romans is the ongoing, progressive sanctification of the believer. We are being transformed into the image of Christ, day after day, year after year. It is an ongoing reality for all those who have placed their faith in Christ and within whom God has placed His Spirit. And our transformation, like our salvation, is not up to us ­– it is the work of God. Which is what makes it not only possible, but unavoidable.   

In chapter six of his letter to the Romans, Paul continues to unpack the good news regarding faith in Christ and its provision of a right relationship with God. And one of the most profound aspects of our salvation, made possible by God’s gracious gift of His Son, is the freedom we enjoy. We have been set free from slavery to sin and are now free to pursue a life of holiness. But not based on our human efforts or our ability to keep a set of rules. Our freedom to say no to sin and yes to holiness has been made possible by Christ’s death and the Spirit’s presence in our lives. Holiness, Paul will remind us, is not an issue of SELF-control, but of the Spirit’s control over us. It is based on a willing submission to God’s power made available to us through His indwelling Spirit. We can experience the transformation God has in store for us as we transfer the control of our lives to the Spirit of God He has made available to us.   

As we open up chapter seven of Paul’s letter to the Romans, we will see him returning to his discussion of man’s new relationship with the law as a result of Christ’s death on the cross. In no way is Paul attempting to diminish the value of the law. In fact, he will defend it with his life. But he is trying to get believers to understand that they have been set from the law in terms of any need they may feel to keep it in order to made right with God. The law is holy, but it cannot transfer that holiness to anyone. Only Jesus can make the unholy, holy. Only He can replace our unrighteousness with His own righteousness. Because of what Jesus has done for us, we can do good deeds, not in our power, but in the power of the Holy Spirit. We are free to be fruitful. We are free to keep the righteous requirements of the law, not as a form of merit, but as an expression of our newfound righteousness provided for us by Christ.      

The second half of Romans chapter seven contains an up close and personal glimpse into Paul’s own battle with sin. Here was a man who had had a face-to-face encounter with the resurrected Christ, and who had spent years sharing the goods new of faith in Christ with countless individuals all across the known world of that day. And yet, he struggled with sin. He knew what it was like to desire to do what was right and good, but to find himself unable to pull it off. He had discovered the reality of the daily battle we all face as believers: The internal war between our old sin nature and the indwelling presence of the Spirit of God. When God saved us, He didn’t eradicate our sin nature. It remains alive and well, and stands diametrically opposed to the plans the Holy Spirit has for us. But God didn’t just give us an alternative to sin, He gave us a means by which we can have victory over it. All through the power of the Spirit.      

In the first 17 verses of Romans chapter eight, Paul provides us with important insight into how we are to live for Christ now that we have been set free from the law. He doesn’t tell us to avoid the law or to view it as unnecessary or no longer valid. No, he tells us to walk according to the Spirit. We are to live our lives according to a new power. The Holy Spirit was God’s gift to the church, providing believers with the power they need to live the life to which He has called them. No longer are we staring at a long list of holy requirements, equipped with nothing more than our sinful flesh to help us live obediently. That method has been proven ineffective in producing holy people. But now, we have the Spirit of God providing for us the power of God and making it possible for us to live as the people of God. It is the very presence of the Spirit of God within us that proves to us that we are sons and daughters of God, and heirs to His kingdom.      

God saved us and one day He is going to glorify us. But what are we supposed to do in the meantime? That’s the topic of the next section of Romans chapter eight. In verses 18-30 Paul will deal with our future glory and our present suffering. He’ll juxtapose our eternal life to come with the life we are called to live in the meantime. During this phase of our journey, we will experience His sanctifying work in our lives, but it will take place along with the ever-present reality of sin and suffering. But once again, Paul will remind us that we have been given the Spirit of God to help us in our weaknesses and to intercede on our behalf with “groanings too deep for words.” And finally, Paul will leave us with those comforting, yet sometimes difficult to believe words, “all things work together for good for those who are called according to His purpose.”

In the final verses of chapter eight, Paul stresses the irrepressible, unavoidable and unbelievable love of God for His children. This love, ultimately expressed in the selfless sacrifice of His own Son as payment for our sins, is like nothing we have ever seen before. It’s not based on our performance, so it’s completely undeserved and impossible to un-earn. In other words, there’s nothing we can ever do that will make God stop loving us. And there is nothing anyone else can do to separate us from God’s love. God loved us enough to send His Son to die for us. And His love will not be completely fulfilled until He sends His Son back to get us. And between those two events in our life, He continues to pour out His love on us as He patiently, graciously and mercifully transforms us into the likeness of His Son. His love for us came at a great cost, and will last forever.    

What was Paul, a good Jew, supposed to do with all the promises God had made to the people of Israel? Was the fact he had been commissioned to take the gospel to the Gentiles a sign that God was done with the Jews? Were they no longer His chosen people? Chapter nine of Romans opens up an important section of the letter that will deal with God’s seeming rejection of the Jews and His inclusion of the Gentiles. The Jews in Paul’s audience, who had placed their faith in Christ, were struggling over what appeared to be a falling from grace on the part of the Israelites. But Paul is going to emphasize God’s faithfulness to His chosen people and affirm that God’s word, His promises, have not failed regarding the descendants of Israel. God was going to choose from among them just as He had among the Gentiles. His blessings would fall on Jew and Gentile alike. Based on His grace, not merit.

It is a dangerous thing to shake your fist in the face of a holy God and question His integrity or cast doubt regarding His justice. And yet, so often, that is exactly what we do. Our problem is one of perspective, as Paul will point out. We have a limited view of what God is doing, and a less-than-complete understanding of His will or His ways. We have a tendency to look at events from our earth-based vantage point and either question God’s methods or raise doubts as to His presence altogether. The Jews of Paul’s day couldn’t understand why God would offer His grace and mercy to the Gentiles. In their minds, that was unfair. Rich Gentiles who came to faith in Christ struggled with the idea of poor believers being their equals. The ways of God are sometimes difficult to comprehend. He can be mysterious and unconventional, but He is also gracious and merciful. All because He chooses to be. Not because we deserve Him to be.

Paul had an obsession with the gospel. It had radically redeemed and changed him. And he was eternally grateful. So much so, that he couldn’t stop talking about it. Everywhere he went, the good news of Jesus Christ was just about all Paul could talk about – to anybody who would listen. It was Paul’s gratitude for what Christ had done for him that fueled his evangelistic zeal. Of course, he had been commissioned by Jesus Himself, but Paul didn’t view his commission as a job, but as a privilege. It was his joy to share the grace that had been shown to him. It was his honor to tell others of the life-changing message of Christ’s death, burial and resurrection. And as we open up chapter ten of Romans, we are going to see Paul’s passion for the gospel and his compassion for the lost coming together in a powerful display of evangelistic zeal. Paul was willing to risk all so that some might come to know Jesus as their Savior.

As Paul closes out chapter 10, he stresses God’s unique relationship to the people of Israel. While they were God’s chosen people, and Jesus had come to them as their Messiah, the vast majority of them had refused to accept Him as such. The apostle John, in his gospel, described just what had happened. “He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:11-12 NLT). Paul, a Jew himself, had watched as his own people continued to reject Jesus as their Messiah and Savior, while the Gentiles gladly accepted His offer of salvation through grace alone, by faith alone in Christ alone. The Jews had heard, and so, they were without excuse. The light of God had shown among them, but they had chosen to remain in darkness. God had called, but they had refused to listen.

It would have been easy for the Gentile recipients of Paul’s letter to have concluded that the Jews had blown it. They had rejected Jesus as their Messiah and, therefore, God had chosen to take His message of salvation to non-Jews. But Paul, a Jew himself, wouldn’t allow them to draw this conclusion. In response to whether God had rejected His people, Paul responded, “By no means!” They may have rejected Him, but He had not rejected them. He had a plan for the people of Israel and had made binding promises regarding their future that He was going to keep. Their rejection of His Son had not caught God off guard. He hadn’t been forced to knee-jerk react and come up with a plan B. In fact, everything was going exactly as He had pre-ordained it to happen. No surprises. No setbacks. No cause for concern. Because God had always planned for all the nations to be blessed, including Israel, and so they were.  

For Paul, God was both unfathomable and amazingly approachable. He was majestic, holy, and worthy of honor, praise and glory. Yet, He could be incredibly loving, gracious, kind and understanding. Paul never minimized the greatness of God, but He took great comfort in the fact that it was God’s unchanging nature as a holy and righteous God that made Him consistently reliable, even when His ways were not fully understandable. There was much about God’s relationship with Israel that Paul didn’t understand. While he could not explain the ways of God, he didn’t believe that gave him the right to question the integrity of God. He was fully confident that God knew what He was doing and that His plans for Israel would be completely and faithfully fulfilled. God was and is reliable. His word stands. His will is always accomplished.  

What difference should the gospel make in our lives? In what ways should the good news regarding Jesus Christ transform the way we live? In chapter 12, Paul will begin putting shoe leather to the doctrinal insights he has provided. He will now attempt to make the theological, practical, showing us how new life in Christ should show up in everyday life in real, tangible ways. But for Paul, it all starts with sacrifice. It begins with a dying to self in order that we might live for Christ. It starts with a realization that we are not our own, and that we belong to God. As His children, we have been called to live distinctively different lives, set apart from the world around us, and empowered by the Holy Spirit within us. Our salvation is to result in our sanctification, our ongoing transformation into the likeness of Christ. But it requires a daily surrender to God’s will instead of our own.

As Christians, we can sometimes feel that we are surrounded by evil. The world in which we live can be a harsh place at times, and it appears that our faith in Christ is resulting in our ever-increasing polarization from the rest of the humanity. And yet, Paul is calling us to live out our faith in such a way that the truth of the gospel stands in stark contrast to the wickedness that surrounds us. When hated, we are to love. When cursed, we are to bless. We are called to live in harmony and humility – with all men. And rather than responding in kind to the evil we may face in this life, we are to reflect the grace, mercy and love of Christ and rely upon our hope in the promises of God. It won’t be easy, but it will get the attention of the world. We are called to live radically different lives, and the more we become like Christ, the more we will stand in stark contrast to the world and as living evidence of the power of God.

It was Francis Schaefer who wrote the book entitled, How Should We Then Live? It was a call to believers to live distinctively different lives in the midst of the morally declining culture of the 20th Century. Paul issues a similar call to the believers living in Rome, the decadent and oppressive government that overshadowed all of life. And his words carry powerful weight for us today as we struggle to live out our faith in an ever-increasingly hostile atmosphere marked by secularism and moral relativism. Paul’s words will sound just as shocking today as they did the day he wrote them. We will instinctively resist his counsel just as his original audience did. We’ll want to insist that he doesn’t understand. He doesn’t know how bad things have gotten. But Paul is speaking for God. And God has placed us on this earth as agents of change and ministers of reconciliation.   

We all know what the Bible has to say about love. But knowing what it says and actually doing it are two completely different matters. Loving others is difficult. Loving our enemies is impossible. Yet God clearly commands us to do both. As Paul continues to address the believer’s relationship with the world and all those who live in it, he takes us to all-too-familiar topic of love. In the second half of chapter 13, he will encourage us to live distinctively different lives by loving in a distinctively different manner. We are to love as Christ loved. We are to love others because we have been loved by God. And this kind of love is not optional. In fact, Paul will tell us that the kind of love to which we have been called fulfills all the requirements of the law. Loving is the consummate expression of our obedience to all of God’s commands. Our love is to be visible, tangible, practical and ultimately, sacrificial.      

Opinions. Everybody has them. And most of us like to share them. But at times, we turn our opinions into what amount to be unwritten laws or codes of conduct, all based on little more than our own understanding of how things should be. We often assume that our opinions carry the weight of Scripture, but based on little evidence. And then we feel obligated to force our point of views on all those around us, policing their actions and judging their failure to live up to our standards. But Paul would have us stop judging one another. He is not saying that we should lack conviction or the courage to speak out against sin. As he tells us in verse 1 of Romans chapter 14, we are “not to quarrel over opinions.” We are not to force our personal views on one another. We are not to divide the body of Christ over petty, personal opinions that inflate our egos and feed our pride.

Disunity and dissension are dangerous things when it comes to the local body of Christ. And they can show up as a result of some of the silliest and pettiest of issues. In chapter 14 of Romans. Paul will address a seemingly ridiculous situation regarding food that was threatening the unity of that local fellowship. When all was said and done, the problem had little to do with food and a lot to do with rights, pride, and a sense of superiority infecting the body of Christ in Rome. That’s why Paul chose to deal with it so strongly. He knew the danger of disunity and the need for a spirit of humility and selflessness within the local body. None of us is greater than anyone else. Our rights do not take precedence over the spiritual well-being of another. We are to put the needs of others ahead of our own. We are to build up, not tear down. We are to be encouragers, not stumbling blocks. All for the good of the body and the glory of God.

Most of us as Americans don’t like the idea of committees. We are inherently individualists who have each inherited a built-in independent streak. Few of us like to be told what to do and would prefer to do things our way, on our own timeline and all by ourselves. We are a pull-yourself-up-by-your-own-bootstraps kind of people. So, when we read the letters of Paul, we tend to read them with a what’s-in-it-for-me kind of attitude. We see all those personal pronouns in his letters and assume he is talking to us – as individuals. But as we look at chapter 15 of Romans, we are going to see that Paul put a high priority on the body of Christ. The whole metaphor of the body, of which Paul was quite fond, conjures up images of codependency and mutual cooperation. The body is a single unit in which all the parts work together for the common good. The same thing is true of the body of Christ. We are not in this alone.

Sometimes it can feel as if living the Christian life is impossible. The standards feel too lofty, the expectations, too great. Many of us feel pressure to meet the expectations of those around us – well-meaning fellow believers, who give us a list of rules to keep or criteria to meet. We feel the need to compare, using everything from the length of our quiet times and the number of verses we have memorized, to the depth of our Bible knowledge and the regularity of our church attendance. But Paul would have us understand that our faith is not to be measured by our accomplishments as much as by our dependence upon the Holy Spirit. It is He who produces righteousness within us. It is He who gives us the capacity to live holy lives. Our growth in Christ-likeness is not to be accomplished in our own strength, any more than our salvation was accomplished by our own merit. We have what it takes to live holy lives, and He’s called the Holy Spirit.

Paul was a non-stop whirlwind of activity when it came to the gospel. He rarely took a break from his missionary travels and, even when he stopped in any city or town for very long, he was busy spreading the good news about Jesus Christ to anybody and everybody who would listen. Jews, Gentiles, rich, poor, slave, free, male, female. Paul was an equal-opportunity evangelist. There was no one too lost, too sinful, too uneducated or too far gone that didn’t hear the message of salvation and feel the compassion of Paul. But Paul required support, especially the prayers of the saints. He knew his time was limited and the opposition to what he was doing was great. So he begged his readers to pray for him. He was doing spiritual work and it required spiritual backing. Paul most likely knew the words of James well: The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.

Unity and diversity. These are two of the characteristics that mark the church, the body of Jesus Christ. And Paul is going to stress both qualities as he wraps up his letter to the Romans. In a world where social standing and ethnic elitism ran rampant, the church provided a refreshing glimpse into the way God intended His people to live. As Paul clearly stated in his letter to the Galatians: “For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes. There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus.” This does not mean we lose our ethnicity or gender, give up our social standing or cease to be who we are. It simply indicates that our diversity takes a back seat to our unity in Christ. We all share one thing in common: Our faith in Christ and union with Him in His death, burial and resurrection.

Like any letter, this one had to eventually come to a close. Paul had to wrap up what he was saying and draw his thoughts to a single conclusion. And for Paul, that was a warning against divisions and obstacles. His greatest fear was the influence that false teachers might have on the believers in Rome, especially during the time it took him to get there. He knew from experience that there would be those who attempted to sway the church away from the truth with offers of a variant form of the gospel. They would use smooth-sounding words and be motivated by purely selfish reasons. And Paul pulls no punches, calling these individuals evil and describing them as tools of Satan. They were to be considered dangerous and deadly, wicked men who preyed on the naïve and the immature. Their words were to be rejected and their fellowship denied. For the sake of the well-being of the church and the further spread of the gospel.

In this episode, we will be in Galatians 1, verses 1-10. From the very outset, Paul is going to jump right into the topic of the gospel. He is going to express his shock at the news that the Galatians believers have been deserting the gospel for a different one. And he makes it quite clear that this “other” gospel is really no gospel at all. Because there is only one. Paul is not going to pull any punches. He isn’t going to negotiate, cooperate or tolerate anyone who preaches a gospel other than grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone. He’s even willing to call down a curse on anyone, man or angel, who teaches a false gospel. For Paul, there was no such thing as pseudo good news.

This is episode one hundred and fifteen and with it, we are starting a new series on Paul’s letter to the Galatians. It’s called No Other Gospel and for the next 12 episodes, we will be digging into this theologically rich and highly practical piece of correspondence from the apostle to the Gentiles.

In today’s episode, we will be in Galatians 1, verses 11-24. I’ve titled this episode, Chosen By God, because Paul is going to go out of his way to defend not only his apostleship, but his message of salvation by grace, through faith in Christ alone. One of the things he was facing was the growing threat of false gospel messages confusing the believers in Galatia and leaving them wondering about the reality of their faith. Paul had a vested interest in the people who made up the churches in Galatia and was not going to stand by and watch them led astray by those who were preaching another gospel. God had chosen him to take the message of Good News to the Gentiles and he was not about to allow anyone or anything stand in his way.

This episode, based on Galatians 2, verses 1-10, in entitled, Preserving the Truth, and deals with Paul’s determination to protect and preserve the integrity of the Gospel message at all costs. Watering it down was not to be tolerated. Any attempt to add to it was not to be accepted. For Paul, the good news of Jesus Christ was not just one more way for men to be made right with God, it was the ONLY way. The truth regarding man’s sin and God solution for it are to be found only in Christ. Any other offer of salvation is false. Any other means of achieving a right standing with God is a lie. Jesus is not one of many options. He is the way, the truth and the life. And nobody comes to the Father except through Him.

Today, we will be in the second half of Galatians 2, looking at verses 11-21. In these verses we are going to see Paul take on his fellow apostle, Peter, and give him a spiritual broadside regarding his treatment of the Gentile believers in Galatia. The problem Paul had was that Peter’s actions had given credence to the false teaching of the Judaizers. His reluctance to eat with uncircumcised Gentiles was sending not only a bad message, but a wrong one. And Paul would have nothing to do with it. He could care less that Peter was one of the original disciples and a member of Jesus’ inner circle. What he had done was wrong and had contradicted the message of salvation by faith alone in Christ alone that Paul had so faithfully preached.

Today, in chapter 3 of Galatians, we’ll be covering verses 1-14. In these verses, Paul is going to dig deeper into the contrast between faith and works. He is going to hammer home his strong, unwavering assertion that salvation is by faith alone in Christ alone, with nothing else whatsoever required. In fact, even after salvation, works do not suddenly become the barometer by which God measures our degree of faith. His love for us doesn’t waver based on the quality or quantity of our works. According to Paul, the righteous are not only saved by faith, they are to live by faith, trusting that God’s love for them has only one condition: Their ongoing faith and dependence upon the death of Christ and His righteousness.  

In today’s episode, called the Promise and the Law, Paul will continue his juxtaposition of the obedience to the law and salvation by faith alone in Christ alone. In verses 15-22 of Galatians chapter 3, Paul will go out of his way to explain the purpose behind God’s giving of the law and how it relates to our faith in Jesus Christ. For generations, the Jews had understood the law of Moses to be the means by which they gained approval by God. Obedience brought blessing. Disobedience brought God’s curses. But they had failed to recognize that what God really wanted was a relationship with men. It was their sin that made that difficult. And no amount of law-keeping and rule-following seemed to help, because they always failed. But God’s solution for their problem came in the form of a promise: His own Son.   

I have titled today’s episode simply “Faith.” It’s based on verses 23-29 of Galatians chapter 3 and where Paul continues his discussion of faith versus works. But Paul is going to attempt to clear up what has become a somewhat confusing point regarding faith. Is faith just another form of works? In other words, is our salvation dependent upon our faith? Can we have too little faith? Is faith something we have to manufacture or muster up in order to be saved? All of these questions will be answered by what Paul has to say in these verses. And the bottom line will be that faith does not come from us, but from God. In fact, faith is a gift given to us from God in the form of His Son, Jesus Christ. Faith isn’t something we manufacture. It’s someone we receive.     

Today’s episode is called “Re-enslaved” and is based on Galatians chapter 4, verses 1-20. Here Paul will confront the Galatian believers about their inexplicable desire to return to their old status as slaves, when they had been set free by Jesus Christ. For Paul freedom was a major benefit of having placed his faith in Christ. He was freed from the law. He was free from the demands of having to try to keep the law in order to be made right with God. In fact, he told the believers in Rome, “But now we have been released from the law, for we died to it and are no longer captive to its power. Now we can serve God, not in the old way of obeying the letter of the law, but in the new way of living in the Spirit” (Romans 7:6). And Paul wants to know why the Galatians would willingly choose a life of slavery over freedom in Christ.

Today’s episode is called “Two Covenants,” and is based on Galatians chapter 4, verses 21-31. Paul is going to contrast the old and the new covenants, using two Old Testament characters: Hagar and Sarah, to illustrate their differences. This unique comparison, will provide us with a better understanding of how the original covenant was based on the Law, but the new covenant, which replaced it, is based on the finished work of Christ on the cross. But Hagar and Sarah, two women who both bore sons to the Jewish patriarch, Abraham, represent two dramatically different attempts to see God’s promise fulfilled. One was based on human effort and reasoning, while the other relied on the word of God. He would do what He promised in His time and according to His will. No help needed. No other options accepted.

As we move into chapter five of Galatians, the first 15 verses will introduce us to the concept of our freedom in Christ and what that should mean when it comes to our relationships with those around us. Paul will tell us that we are “free to love”, which is also the title of this episode. We enjoy freedom from the law. We are no longer required to try and keep the law in order to earn a right standing with God. We are free from the rites, rituals and religious rule-keeping that marked the law. But our freedom has a purpose. It is to have an ulterior motive. Rather than having to obsess about our own spiritual standing before God, we are free to love and serve those around us. Rather than focusing on law-keeping, we can concentrate all our attention on love-giving. Our salvation has been secured. So, we can spend all our time putting the needs of others first.

In the second half of Galatians chapter five, verses 16-26, Paul is going to explain that we not only have the freedom to love, but the power to do so. It comes from the Spirit of God. But it requires a determination to live under the Spirit’s control, choosing to be led by Him and not by our old sin nature. It’s a choice we have to make each and every day. And when we choose to let the Holy Spirit have control of our lives, He produces His fruit through us. And that fruit is irreproducible any other way. Oh, don’t get me wrong, we can produce a lot of things with our life, but if we do it in the flesh, the byproduct of our efforts will look dramatically different. Like everything else in our lives as believers, fruitfulness is not based on our own efforts, but on our complete reliance upon God. The life of faith is a life lived according to God’s power, not ours.

Well, this is the final episode in our study of Galatians. We’ll be looking at chapter six where Paul wraps up his discussion of the law and our life of faith in Christ. Throughout this letter, Paul has made it powerfully clear that there is no other gospel than the one that preaches the grace of God alone, made possible through faith alone in Christ alone. And there is no other way for men to be made right by God than through faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ. He not only saves us, He sanctifies us. And He makes it possible for us to live according to a new law: The law of Christ. Loving as He loved. Sacrificing for others as He did for us. Extending grace just as we have received it from God the Father. We are now free. Free to live and love as Christ did.

This first episode is entitled, “Radical and Revolutionary” and is intended to serve as an introduction that looks at the setting and circumstances surrounding Jesus’ message. One of the problems we face as 21st-Century Christians is that we have a habit of reading the Bible with a post-cross, this-side-of-the-resurrection perspective. It’s only natural, because that’s our historical point of view. But when reading the Scriptures, we need to always keep in mind who is speaking or writing and the exact nature of the original audience. Who were they? What were their circumstances? How would they have received what was being said or stated? This is particularly important when it comes to the Sermon on the Mount, because the original audience was predominantly Jews and, because Jesus had not yet died and rose again, none of the people in His hearing were yet believers. According to the text, there were only four disciples in the crowd that day. Simon Peter, Andrew, James and John. And they had just begun to follow Jesus. At that time, early on in Jesus’ ministry, they had no idea who He was, other than a rabbi whom they had decided to follow. So when we read this account in Matthew, it is essential that we try to “get in the sandals” of those in Jesus’ audience that day. We need to listen to His words with their ears and from their perspective. And if we do, it will make this passage come alive. It truly contains Christ’s counter-culture call. It was radical and revolutionary. And still is.  

In this upcoming session of Devotionary, we’re going to take a slight departure and deal with a particular passage of Scripture, but not an entire book. That’s not normally how we operate, but I think you’ll see what I’ve chosen to give this passage special treatment. I am talking about Matthew, chapters five through seven. You’ll probably recognize it by its more familiar name: The Sermon on the Mount. Of course, what sets this passage apart is not its name, but its author. In it, we have the words of Jesus Himself, as recorded by Matthew. It was Augustine, the bishop of Hippo, who first coined the title, the Sermon on the Mount. That was all the way back in the middle of the first century, and it has stuck with us to this day.   While less a traditional sermon, and more a collection of teachings shared in a classroom like format, the words found in these three chapters in the gospel of Matthew are nevertheless significant because of what they say and who said them. So, over the next weeks, we are going to dig into this powerful passage and see what we can learn from words that came directly from the lips of Jesus. Hope you enjoy it.

Over the next three weeks, we will be spending all our time on the first 12 verses of Matthew chapter 5. This is the section best known as The Beatitudes. These verses, while well-known and quite familiar to most of us, provide an interesting opening to Jesus’ message. What was Jesus trying to say to His audience? In fact, just exactly who in His audience were these statements aimed at? This opening salvo from Jesus was anything but simplistic and easy to understand. From the outset, He had His listeners scratching their heads and wondering just exactly who He was and what He was talking about. Nine times, Jesus will use the word “blessed.” What did He mean? And how in the world did blessing go hand-in-hand with poverty, mourning, hunger and persecution? And twice Jesus will refer to the kingdom of heaven. Was that the same thing as the kingdom of God? Where would this kingdom reside? Who would be its king? All of these questions, along with many others, would have been swirling in the minds of those sitting on the hillside that day. And the key to understanding all that Jesus will have to say in the rest of His sermon hinges on how we interpret His opening remarks.

This will be our second week looking at the first 12 verses of Matthew chapter 5, the portion of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount that we call The Beatitudes. In this episode, called, “Not What They Expected”, we are going to start unpacking what these verses meant and what Jesus was trying to teach those in His audience. It wouldn’t take a stretch of the imagination to conclude that what Jesus had to say was not what they expected to hear. After all, they viewed Jesus as a rabbi or teacher. They assumed that all He would say would fall in line with everything else they had heard said or taught by other rabbis and religious leaders. But these opening lines of Jesus’ sermon were shocking and a bit disconcerting to His listeners. They were unexpected and, most likely, unpleasant to hear. But it is critical that we clearly understand what Jesus is saying in these opening verses, because they will set up much of what He has to say in the rest of this passage. As always, try to hear Jesus’ words from the perspective of His audience. Put your contemporary viewpoints aside and try not to hear what Jesus has to say through your Christian point of view. His words were shocking. His expectations would have come across as unrealistic. But Jesus is simply setting the table so that He can eventually serve them the bread of life and living water.

This episode, entitled, “The Benefit of God’s Approval”, will be our third and final look at The Beatitudes, found in Matthew 5, verses 1-12. Each of these nine statements contain powerful words of comfort for those of us who know Christ as our Savior. There are immediate benefits tied to each of them, but future-oriented, eternal benefits as well. Our goal in this episode is to concentrate our attention on the amazing list of benefits Jesus lines out for the those who have been or will be approved by God through faith in His Son. The main point in these first twelve verses is what it means to be blessed or approved by God. It is a state that every man and woman longs for in their hearts, whether they recognize it as such, or not. It was the 17th-Century scientist and mathematician, Blaise Pascal who said, “What else does this craving, and this helplessness, proclaim but that there was once in man a true happiness, of which all that now remains is the empty print and trace? This he tries in vain to fill with everything around him, seeking in things that are not there the help he cannot find in those that are, though none can help, since this infinite abyss can be filled only with an infinite and immutable object; in other words, by God himself.” Christ alone can fill the void. Only He can bring us God’s approval and blessing.

In this episode, we move into the next part of Jesus’ message, found in Matthew 5, verses 13-16. Here Jesus will begin to deal with the goal for those who have been blessed or approved by God. Their lives are to make a difference in the world around them. This episode is entitled, “Agents of Change,” because that is exactly what we are called to be. Jesus will use two simple metaphors to illustrate how those approved by God should live in the midst of the world around them. The nation of Israel had been set apart by God to be a living example of what it looks like for a people to have a relationship with God. But they had failed to remain faithful. God leveled this sobering accusation against them through the prophet, Ezekiel. “I placed her at the center of the nations, but she has rebelled against my regulations and decrees and has been even more wicked than the surrounding nations. She has refused to obey the regulations and decrees I gave her to follow.” (Ezekiel 5:5-6 NLT). Now, Jesus was offering a new opportunity for people to have a relationship with God and act as His agents of change in the world.

Today, we’re going to be in Matthew 5, verses 17-20. Jesus is going to assure His listeners that what He is teaching is not contrary to the Old Testament Scriptures. It may have sounded radical and revolutionary to their ears, but it was not a departure from God’s law and all that the prophets had written. Jesus wasn’t introducing something that was going to replace the law, it was going to fulfill it. He wasn’t contradicting the writings of the prophets, He was actually the one they had promised would come. The law was God’s revelation of what He expected in terms of right behavior from mankind. It was His brand of righteousness described in great detail. The writings of the prophets were predominantly the call of God for the people of Israel to return to Him. The prophets spoke on behalf of God, calling the disobedient Israelites back to a right relationship with God, through obedience to His law. They could return or face the consequences. They could repent or suffer God’s punishment in the form of captivity and enslavement. But they failed to return and the inevitable happened. But Jesus had come to call the people of God back to God, offering them a better righteousness they could have never produced on their own.  

Today’s episode is entitled, “The Capacity to Love” and covers Matthew 5, verses 21-26. In this section of His message, Jesus will deal with the need for love among God’s people. Those who are blessed or approved by God, will be marked by love, not hatred. The Jews took great pride in their adherence to God’s law concerning murder. For most of the people in the crowd that day, murder may have crossed their mind at some point, but they had refused to give in. And they believed that fact counted as a plus on the righteousness side of their ledger. Yet, Jesus was about to blow that false mindset out of the water. He was going to reveal that the God wasn’t as concerned about murder as He was about the condition of the heart that could eventually result in murder. Hate was the problem. Or to put it another way, the lack of love. It wasn’t enough to not kill someone. God wanted you to love them. To refrain from murder is not a sign of righteousness and would certainly not qualify as love. Once again, Jesus is rocking the boat and disrupting the status quo.   

In today’s episode, we’ll be looking at Matthew 5, verses 27-30. I’ve entitled this lesson, “Purity of Life” because in it, Jesus is going to deal with the issue of adultery. But, like each of the topics He has covered in His message up to this point, Jesus is going to give His audience a slightly different perspective than that to which they were accustomed. They knew that, according to the Mosaic Law, adultery was wrong. But was NOT committing adultery the goal God had in mind when He gave this law to Moses? Jesus will go out of His way to point out that there is far more behind this law than a prohibition against marital unfaithfulness. In fact, He’ll get to the literal heart of the matter – the heart of man. God was looking for purity of life, not some kind of performance-based, do-just-enough-to-keep-God-happy kind of lifestyle that focused on avoiding the major infractions, while failing to measure up to the inward transformation God was really interested in. Adultery was a symptom of something far more offensive to God: Unfaithfulness to Him.     

Today’s episode covers Matthew 5, verses 31-32. In these two short verses, Jesus takes on what was an extremely hot topic at that time: Divorce. Then, as today, divorce was a problem among the people of God. And while the Mosaic law had restrictions regarding its use and strict regulations governing its accessibility for the Jewish people, they had begun to act as if divorce was not only a viable option, but in some cases, a preferable one to marriage. And as before, Jesus will deal with the perception regarding divorce and the reality that God intended when He gave the laws concerning it to begin with. For God, marriage was intended to reflect the covenant relationship between He and His people. So, it was all about faithfulness. And Jesus will make that point painfully clear to His audience as He stresses God’s unwavering view regarding the marriage covenant. For all practical purposes, Israel had bought into the idea of no-fault divorce. Men were putting away their wives for little or no reason, and thinking nothing of having done so. But Jesus was going to put that mindset to an abrupt halt.

In today’s episode we’ll be looking at verses 33-37 of Matthew 5. I’ve entitled this episode, “Trustworthy Truthfulness”, because in these verses, Jesus is going to bring up the issue of oaths, but His real emphasis is going to be on speaking truth. For the Jewish people, oaths had become another misunderstood and misused tradition that provided them with an excuse to lie and get away with it. Originally, swearing an oath had been a serious thing. It was a way of guaranteeing your word. But, over time, the religious leaders had developed workarounds or loopholes that allowed someone to make an oath and then break it. It was like crossing your fingers. You made a promise, but with no intention of keeping it. And the worst part was, many were using God’s name or things associated with God, to back up their oaths. So, when the failed to live up to their word, they were dragging God’s name through the mud. Which is what led Jesus to take this on in the first place. In essence, Jesus is telling them to say what they mean and mean what they say.

We live in a world where getting even is seen as some kind of inalienable right. We somehow think that retaliation for a wrong done is guaranteed by the constitution. And the Jews of Jesus’ day had the same mentality. So, in today’s episode, based on Matthew 5, verses 38-42, we’ll see Jesus address the mistaken notion that retaliation was a God-given right, provided for in the law of Moses. Instead, He is going to present the life of self-sacrifice and love. He will encourage His listeners to give rather than choosing to get even. Like touching a live electrical wire, His message will jolt His audience, sending shockwaves of confusion and doubt into their brains. What He is asking them to do will sound illogical and impossible to their ears. What He recommends will come across as unprofitable as it is unappealing. But once again, Jesus was describing the life of those who are blessed or approved by God. He was revealing the radical new lifestyle that would mark those who place their faith in Him as their Savior and Lord. Their righteousness would surpass that of the scribes and Pharisees, allowing them to keep the law love as modeled in the life of Jesus Himself.

In Matthew 5, verses 43-47, Jesus will tell his audience to love their enemies. As Christians, we’ve grown accustomed to that phrase as Christians. We may not obey it, but we’re certainly more than familiar with it. But when Jesus dropped it on His audience that day on the hillside by the Sea of Galilee, it was a like He was speaking a foreign language. Once again, He was addressing a common misperception regarding the law and their obedience to it. This time, it had to do with something the law didn’t say, but that had become almost as binding as the law itself. For some reason, the Jews had gotten it into their heads that God’s command to love their neighbor also meant that they were free to hate their enemies. And since God didn’t seem to indicate who their enemies were, they took it upon themselves to decide. In essence, anybody who wasn’t a Jew was their enemy. But Jesus had other ideas. He wasn’t going to let them misinterpret and misapply God’s law. Because for those who would be approved by God, and end up a part of His kingdom, the law of love extended to any and all, including enemies. Because it had nothing to do with loveabilty or loveliness.

In today’s episode, we’re going to look at a single verse, the final verse of Matthew, chapter five. While short in length, this verse packs a powerful punch, that is just as impactful today as it was when Jesus spoke it on the Galilean hillside. On top of all that Jesus has said to His audience, He now challenges them with a call to perfection. But not some kind of earthly form of perfection. He calls for godly perfection. Rather than emulating the righteousness of men, we are to use God as our standard of perfection. But that sounds impossible, doesn’t it? How can fallen, sinful men hope to match the sinless perfection of God? What chance do we stand in achieving this seemingly unattainable standard? None whatsoever. That is, if we are left to our own devices and remain dependent upon our sinful flesh to try and pull it off. But Jesus is pointing to something far more reliable than human achievement. He is trying to set the stage and prepare the hearts of the people for His offer of salvation. Redemption is right around the corner. Perfect righteousness that will provide a right standing with God is about to be available to all who place their faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior.

Today, we move into chapter six of Matthew, and we’ll be looking at the first four verses. I’ve entitled this episode, “Godly Giving” because it deals with the kind of giving God desires. He is looking for giving that is motivated by righteousness, not done in order to somehow achieve a reputation of righteousness. Doing good deeds in order to make a good impression is not what God is looking for in His people. Righteous-looking acts that are motivated by a self-promoting agenda may get you recognized by men, but they won’t result in a reward from God. Once again, Jesus is presenting an alternative view of what it means to live a righteous life. It had less to do with external behavior than it did with a changed heart. Godly giving was to be selfless and sacrificial. It wasn’t to be done for show or in an effort to leave a favorable impression. That kind of giving was self-centered and far from righteous as far as God is concerned. So, Jesus warns His listeners, and us, that righteous-looking deeds done to impress others and promote self will never result in the only approval you really need: God’s.   

Today, in Matthew six, verses 5-8, Jesus is going to take on the topic of prayer. I’ve entitled this episode, “Prayer for Praise” because Jesus is going to deal with another outward act that had been intended to reflect righteousness, but had become a twisted form of self-promotion. Prayer, intended to be a private conversation between God and His child, had taken on a distorted purpose, where the audience was no longer God, but other men. In other words, prayer had become an outward display of your righteousness designed to gain the recognition of men. And it seems that it had become common practice to pray long, wordy and sometimes repetitious prayers in order to impress others with the level of your godliness. But like everything else Jesus has said so far in His message, He is going to take his audience to task on their warped view on prayer. Prayer was not meant to gain the praise of men, but to offer praise and petitions to God.

Matthew six, verses 9-15 contain what has come to be known as the Lord’s Prayer. For some, this simple prayer has become the primary prayer they pray. They have it memorized and can recite it easily. But was this Jesus’ intent when He shared this prayer as part of His sermon on the mount? Was He providing us with a prayer to pray or a model to follow? If you look closely, He prefaces the prayer with the following words, “Pray then like this.” It would seem that He is giving us a model or simple outline for proper prayer. And it is important that we understand the context. Jesus has been talking about prayer, fasting and giving. He has been exposing false prophets and those with false professions. Prayer had become a means by which the Jewish people attempted to impress one another. They preferred public prayers and long-winded, wordy and repetitious prayers. But Jesus wanted them to understand the kind of prayers God preferred. And this short, but remarkably rich prayer provides them with a simple outline of the elements that should be a part of each and every prayer we pray.

Today, in Matthew six, verses 16-18, Jesus is going to address the topic of fasting. While not a common practice among most Christians today, fasting was a spiritual discipline that was very familiar to the average Hebrew. As we will see, there was at least one day a year when every Israelite was expected to fast or afflict themselves. It was tied to the annual event called the Day of Atonement. But whether or not we fast is not the main point of what Jesus has to say in these verses. He is more concerned about the motive behind fasting, or better yet, the heart of the individual who chooses to fast. As it was with prayer, fasting had become just another way for Israelites to advertise their spirituality and impress their friends with their superior piety. Fasting had been hijacked from its original God-decreed purpose and been forced to serve as a means of self-promotion. People fasted to get noticed, not by God, but by men. They fasted, believing it would score them brownie points with God, and make them look super-spiritual to their peers. But Jesus wanted them to know that God was not impressed.  

Today’s episode is entitled, “Earthly Treasures and Pleasures” and is based on Matthew chapter six, verses 19-24. This section of Jesus’ message will probably be quite familiar, but its exact meaning may remain a bit obscure as to you. Jesus will go from talking about earthly treasures to bad eyesight. Then He will jump right into a brief discussion on money. But what is the point of all this? What is Jesus trying to tell us? It is important to remember that Jesus began His ministry by carrying on the very same message John the Baptist had begun: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” From the earliest moments of His earthly ministry, Jesus stressed the kingdom of heaven. And during this message, delivered on that Galilean hillside, Jesus has continued to stress the kingdom life. He has been calling people to a completely different life lived according to a completely different set of standards, and as part of a kingdom that is not of this world. For a people whose focus had become earth-bound, Jesus was presenting a higher calling and a dramatic change in perspective.    

This episode covers Matthew chapter six, verses 25-34 and deals with a universal problem, common to all mankind: Anxiety. That’s why I’ve entitled this episode, “You of Little Faith.” It seems that worry is timeless in nature and no respecter of person, regardless of the century in which they lived or their income and social status. Both the rich and the poor worry. The powerful experience anxiety just like the weak, but usually over different issues. And Jesus brings up the topic on the heels of his discussion regarding laying up treasures on earth and the love of money. It seems that Jesus ties these things directly to the problem of anxiety. The more we put all our stock in the things of this earth, the more we will have to worry about. We will worry that we don’t have them. If we do have them, we will worry that we might lose them or have them taken away from us. The things of this earth bring us status and a sense of satisfaction. Even just the thought of getting more stuff can make us feel giddy with excitement. But Jesus breaks the news that our worry is directly linked to our love of earthly treasures and our lack of faith in God to provide for our needs.

“Who am I to judge?” How many times have you heard someone say that? Perhaps you’ve said it yourself. But is it something we should say? Are we unqualified or not even responsible to judge someone else? That will be our topic today as we look at Matthew chapter seven, verses 1-6. I’ve entitled this episode “Just Judgment” because there are two kinds of judgment: One that is inappropriate and sinful, and the other that is not only necessary, but expected for those who are approved by God. In this passage, Jesus will deal primarily with unjust judgment. He knew He was dealing with a people who would hear His words, misunderstand and then misapply them. They would, as we so often do, hear what the Word of God says, and somehow think it applies to someone else in the audience, but not us. One of the things about so-called spiritual people, is that they tend to expect non-spiritual people to live up to their higher standards. They find someone who is less spiritual than themselves and then judge them for their lack of spirituality. They place unnecessary burdens on those who have no business carrying them, while actually giving themselves a free pass.

Today’s episode covers a very familiar passage of Scripture found in Matthew chapter seven, verses 7-11. And the title of this episode is based on the three words Jesus mentions in these verses: Ask. Seek, Knock. For many of us, we grew up hearing these verses used as part of an invitation to salvation. And while they certainly can apply, we have to decide whether that was Jesus’ original intention when He spoke these words. Was He inviting non-believers to salvation or encouraging those who would one day find themselves approved by God because of their faith in Jesus’ death, to take advantage of their intimate relationship with the Father? It makes a significant difference in how you apply this passage, because it changes who these three words apply to. We have to remember that Jesus was talking about the kingdom of heaven, and was juxtaposing it with the kingdom of this earth. He was letting His audience know that things were about to change in a dramatic way. He had come to bring new life and a new means by which men might be made right with God and, therefore, enjoy an intimate relationship like they never had before.

In today’s episode, based on Matthew 7, verses 12-14, we will be covering two critical topics: The Golden Rule and the Narrow Gate. While it may first appear that these two things have little or nothing to do with one another, we are going to see that Jesus is describing a way of life that follows a radically different path: The path of love. Those who are approved by God and blessed to be a part of His kingdom, are called to live dramatically different lives, marked by a completely different kind of love than that which characterizes the world. The path of love, Christ-like love, is not for the faint of heart. It is not for the selfish and self-centered. We are being called by Christ to love as He has loved us – sacrificially and selflessly. We are being called to walk a lonely, seldom travelled path, where our actions will be misunderstood and our companions will be few. The rest of the world will take a different path. They will pursue a different way. But rather than reject them, we are to love them. Rather than condemn them, we are to treat them as we have been treated by God: With grace, mercy, and forgiveness.

In Matthew 7, verses 15-20, Jesus addresses the topic of false prophets. He describes them wolves in sheep’s clothing and warns that, even though they will disguise themselves, they will be recognizable because of their fruit. In other words, while their looks may be deceiving, their fruit won’t be. It will be painfully clear by their words and actions that they are not approved by God. They may appear to be on the same path, the narrow path, but their presence there is only to act as distractions and road blocks to those who are truly God’s children. This message is essential for us to hear, because we are surrounded by so many who claim to be Christ-followers, but whose lives lack any sign of fruitfulness. They appear to be fellow companions on the narrow path to the kingdom of God, but they are like diseased trees, incapable of producing life-giving fruit. Not everyone who claims to be a Christ-follower is one. Not everyone who sits in the pew on Sunday is a true worshiper of God. Jesus would have us live warily and wisely, knowing that the enemy is real and the threats against us are ever-present.

Jesus has talked about false prophets, now He is going to talk about false professors, those who claim to profess belief in Him, but whose lives lack the fruit to prove it. In Matthew 7, verses 21-23, Jesus addresses those who will claim to be His followers, but whose lives are really marked by lawlessness. They give Jesus lip-service, but all the while they live according to their own rules and standards. Rather than seeing Jesus as their sole source of salvation, they tend to view Him as nothing more than a model to follow – they use His life as a standard for their own behavior, but not as a means of being made right with God. According to Jesus, their professions regarding Him will be false. And the result will be His ultimate rejection of them. He will tell them, “I never knew you”. He will accuse them of doing works of lawlessness. All because they refused to do the will of God – to believe in Jesus Christ as their sin substitute and Savior. Knowing about Jesus is not the same thing as believing in Jesus. Doing good deeds in the name of Jesus is not the same as believing in the good news about Jesus.

Well, this is our final episode in our study on Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. We will be wrapping it up with Matthew chapter 7, verses 24-29. In these closing lines of His message, Jesus will deal with the wise and the foolish man. One built his house on a solid foundation of rock, while the other took short cuts and simply built his house on sand. In both cases, the storms of life came, battering their homes with wind and rain. One stood, while the other fell. But what is Jesus’ point with this story? Why did He choose to wrap up his entire message in this way? This ending, along with everything else Jesus said that day, left the people in His audience astounded. He spoke like no one else they had ever heard. He seemed to have a power and authority that none of their other religious leaders possessed. He spoke with confidence. And Jesus will close out His message by emphasizing that it is His very words that will provide the foundational base on which those who are approved by God will stand firm and find wisdom to model the kingdom life.  

Today, we’ll be covering 1 Timothy chapter 1:1-11. In these opening verses, it will become clear what Paul’s primary concern was in penning this letter to Timothy: False teachers. This was a real problem in the early church, and we will find out just how strongly Paul felt about these individuals. They seemed to be a constant threat to the young congregations that Paul had helped found, and they tended to show up immediately after Paul had gone on to the next region on his missionary journey. Paul was far from tolerant of these people. He knew the kind of damage they could do to a local congregation, because the content of their teaching was not only false, it was dangerous. I’ve entitled this episode, “Sound Teaching Needed” and it as true today as it was when Paul penned this letter. Let me encourage you to read the passage when you get the chance. And do so each day. It will go a long way in helping you understand what Paul is writing and how it might apply to our lives today.

This is the introduction to a brand new series based on Paul's first letter to Timothy.

In today’s episode, we’ll be in 1 Timothy chapter 1, verses 12-20. Paul is going to use himself as a prime example of God’s saving grace. There had a been a time when Paul was wrong – about a lot of things. Including His views of salvation, God, righteousness, the Messiah, and this new thing called The Way. At one time, Paul had been a blasphemer, persecutor and insolent opponent of Christ. And yet, in spite of his ignorance and unbelief, God had mercifully saved him. Timothy is going to meet his fair share of blasphemers, persecutors and opponents of Christ. And he will have to stay strong, standing firm on his faith in Christ. But Paul also wants him to realize that God has the capacity to transform anyone, no matter how vile and antagonistic to the gospel they may be. I’ve titled this episode, “I was wrong, but God made me right” to help remind each of us that our salvation as the work of God, not us. Read the passage when you get a chance to remind yourself that there was a time when you were wrong, but God made you right.

In 1 Timothy chapter 2, Paul deals with the gospel and prayer and provides us with a primer on how these two things go together. Paul will admonition Timothy to make prayer a high priority in his life and ministry. Prayer is to be God-focused and expectant. We pray because we believe God answers our prayers. And our prayers are not to be limited in terms of their extent. We are to pray for all people, including those who are lost, and even those who serve us in government. The primary objective behind our prayers is not some selfish intent to get from God, but to lift up others so that they might receive the gift of Jesus Christ. Along with prayer, Paul will address the spiritual and moral demeanor of those within the body of Christ. Men are to be prayerful, but also holy in their outward behavior. Women are to be modest in their dress, and focused on inward piety more than outward beauty. Paul’s point seems to be that our behavior and appearance, like our prayers, are to be selfless and gospel-focused.

Today, we’ll be looking at 1 Timothy chapter three, verses 1-13, where Paul is going to outline the qualifications for elders and deacons in the local church. Paul is encouraging Timothy to surround himself with men who have qualities and characteristics that will make them invaluable to his leadership and indispensable to the church’s spiritual well-being. And Paul makes it clear that these two offices in the church are to be something to which men aspire. There should be no shortage of qualified and eager candidates. Timothy is not going to be able to lead the church in Ephesus on his own. He will need coworkers and co-laborers who will stand beside him, teaching the Word and protecting the flock. In his second letter to Timothy, Paul will instruct him to take “what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also” (2 Timothy 2:2). The health of the church is dependent upon godly men, who will model godly lives and supply godly leadership.

In today’s episode, we’ll be looking at 1 Timothy chapter three, verse 14 through chapter four, verse 5. In this section of his letter, Paul will discuss the foundational nature of the truth of the gospel. He will contrast the truth regarding God’s gracious gift concerning His Son with the lies of the enemy – that take a myriad of forms – from the subtle to the blatantly contradictory. The church, the body of Christ, was to be the keeper of the truth, as well as the main vehicle through which the truth was to be manifested. The reality of the gospel message should be best seen in those who share the designation of Christ-follower, and live out the power made possible through the gospel in their everyday lives. The church is designated with the responsibility of upholding and embodying the truth regarding man’s redemption and sanctification. We are to be agents of change and beacons of light in a dark and dying world.

Today’s episode covers 1 Timothy chapter four, verse 6-16 and is entitled, “The Exemplary Life.” In this passage, Paul is going to give Timothy some invaluable advice on living the Christian life in the midst of the body of Christ, the church, but also the world. The life of a servant of Jesus Christ is not an easy one. And Timothy was discovering that following in the footsteps of Jesus was a sometimes difficult journey. Even Jesus had warned that “the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it” (Matthew 5:14 NLT). Paul wanted Timothy to know that his faith walk would be no cake walk or pleasant stroll in the park. And there were things Timothy was to be busy doing on the journey. He was not a tourist on a pleasure cruise, but a servant of Jesus Christ with an assignment from God Himself. He was to follow after Christ obediently and model Christ-likeness faithfully. There are to be no spectators in the household of faith. Like Timothy, we are to be busy about the work of God. We are to teach, train and typify the transformative power of the gospel.  

In today’s episode, based on 1 Timothy chapter five, verse 6-16, Paul is going to get very practical, providing Timothy with some specific insights into how to handle problems within the local church. As usual, it would be easy for us to search for prescriptive commands or black and white rules for us to follow in leading our own churches, but that is not what Paul is offering here. He is providing some principles that can apply to various circumstances, but not necessarily hard and fast rules for behavior or inter-relationships within the local church body. Timothy was a young man attempting to lead a church that was made up of older men and women, as well as young people his own age. It would seem that Timothy was single and yet he was responsible for the marriages within his local congregation. How was he to lead them? And what about the problem with widows that was unique to his local fellowship? Some of what Paul has to say was likely in response to questions Timothy had sent him. He was a young man with a huge responsibility for the family of God under his care.

We’ll be covering First Timothy chapter five, verse 17-25 in today’s episode. It entitled, “Choose Wisely” because Paul is going to give Timothy some wise counsel regarding the selection of elders. He has already addressed their qualifications, now he’s going to deal with Timothy’s relationship with these men and how he was to lead them as they led the church. Paul knew from personal experience that leading the local church was a lot of work – more than enough for one man to accomplish. So, the selection of elders was of vital importance. And their ongoing spiritual well-being was not to be assumed or taken for granted. Leaders will inevitably have detractors and those who would undermine their authority. Criticism comes with the territory, but because these men are ultimately appointed by God, they were to be treated with dignity and respect. They were to be viewed as servants of God as much as Timothy and Paul were. Their qualifications were vitally important and not to be overlooked, but neither was their spiritual well-being and right to respect and honor.

Today, as we move into chapter six of 1 Timothy, we’ll be looking at verses 1-10, where Paul is going to address the idea of godly contentment and how it relates to true godliness. To make his point, Paul will address three specific groups within the local church, giving them insights into how they were to live their lives within the local context of the body of Christ. Each was radically different from the other, but they each shared a common power to influence the church in a negative way. The antidote to becoming a cancer within the local body of church was to pursue godliness, at all costs. Seeking a change in your less-than-ideal circumstances in the hopes that it produces more joy is misguided and will prove disappointing. Chasing after money and material things in order to find contentment and happiness will never produce the results you’re looking for. And teaching a form of truth other than that revealed by God through the life, death and resurrection of His Son, will always be revealed for exactly what it is: A lie.   

Today marks the end of our study in the letter of First Timothy. We will wrap up with chapter six, verses 11-21. Paul closes out his letter with some last words of warning and encouragement to his young protégé. His overwhelming desire for Timothy is that he pursue godliness and righteousness at all costs. That he fight the good fight of faith and finish strong. He knows that Timothy is going to face difficult days ahead. It came with the role of pastor/teacher/shepherd. This young man was in for his fair share of headaches and heartaches, failures and setbacks. Temptations would come his way. He would have moments when he wanted to give up. He would face days when he felt like a failure. There would be deserters and detractors, false teachers and fake followers. But Timothy was to remain faithful to His charge and complete reliant upon the Spirit of God to accomplish will of God to which he had been called.

In this opening episode on Paul’s second letter to Timothy, we’ll be looking at chapter one, in which Paul will emphasize the faithfulness of God. And he will call Timothy to remain faithful to his calling and committed to his job as a minister of the Word of God. Paul knew that Timothy was under a great deal of pressure, facing opponents to his ministry and spiritual forces that would want to destroy all that God was doing in Ephesus where Timothy was ministering. The temptation to give in or give up would be great. Suffering wasn’t just a possibility for Timothy, it was an inevitable reality – a fact that Paul knew all too well. So in this opening portion of his letter to Timothy, Paul will go out of his way to stress God’s incredible faithfulness and encourage Timothy to respond with a determination to remain faithful to his God and his commission as a minister of the gospel.

In today’s episode we’ll be in chapter two, verses 1-14. In this section of his letter, Paul will attempt to pass the mantle of leadership to Timothy, encouraging his young protégé to stand firm in his faith and to serve the cause of Christ like a good soldier. He continues to prepare Timothy for the difficult days ahead by recalling his own suffering and that of Christ. Jesus was the God-man, the Son of God who took on human flesh and suffered an agonizing death at the hands of men. All so that the sins of men might be atoned for and that some might enjoy a restored relationship with God the Father by placing their faith in His Son’s sacrificial death on the cross. Paul wanted Timothy to never forget the reality of the resurrection, because it is in that fact all our hope is based. Jesus died, only to rise again. And we too, will one day rise again to new life, sinless and free from the effects of death – forever.

Today’s episode is entitled, “Ready, Willing and Faithful” because it deals with Paul’s continued charge to Timothy to stay committed to his calling and faithful to the gospel message. We’ll be looking at chapter two, verses 15-26. In these verses, Paul will challenge Timothy to live a fearless and faith-filled life that is focused on the pursuit of righteousness. He is to make sure he doesn’t repeat the mistakes of Hymenaeus and Philetus, two individuals whom Paul accused of swerving from the truth. Their false doctrines, preached as truth, were having a devastating impact on the local church. Disagreements, quarrels, false teaching, and all kinds of other problems were a reality in the church located in Ephesus. And as a leader, Timothy had the undeniable and sometimes unpleasant responsibility of dealing with these potentially deadly controversies. And through it all, Timothy needed to stay above the fray, not allowing himself to be contaminated or distracted from his role as a shepherd.

As Paul goes deeper into his letter to Timothy, the urgency of his message can be tangibly felt. He warns Timothy about a pseudo-godliness that will mark the last days – the days in which he lived and in which we still exist today. We live more than 2,000 years after these words were written, but they are as applicable now as they were the day Paul penned them. While the world has enjoyed much in the way of technological, medical and scientific advances, our moral trajectory has been anything but upward. Mankind’s love affair with sin is evident all around us. And while religion still plays a significant role in our day and age, it has done little to change the ethical and moral decline of society. In many cases, it has been a key contributor to the problem. Money, materialism, pleasure and self-determination are the gods of our age – just as they were in Timothy’s day. And while our goal remains godliness, it is no easier to achieve now than it was then.

In the second half of chapter three, Paul gives Timothy a lecture on the primacy of Scripture and provides an unapologetic testimony to his own faithfulness to the Word. For Paul, the Old Testament Scriptures were not just important, they were essential to understanding the incredible nature of Jesus Christ’s coming. As a former Pharisee, Paul was a student of the Hebrew Scriptures and was equipped to see in them the incredible fulfillments of prophecy brought about by Jesus’ coming, His death and resurrection. These were not the writings of men, but the words of God Himself. And as such, they were powerful and profitable. The Scriptures were key to living the godly life. Without them, men were left to their own devices. Even with them, men were prone to misinterpret them or provide God’s Word with meanings He never intended. Treating God’s Word as just that – His word, was a non-negotiable requirement if Timothy wanted to be complete, equipped for every good work.

With today’s episode, we’ll be wrapping up our study of Second Timothy. I’ve entitled this episode, “A Final Word of Warning” because, in it, we will see that Paul closes out his letter to Timothy with some strong words of encouragement and admonition. He wanted Timothy to run the race well and to finish strong. Paul knew that the days ahead would be difficult for his young protégé, and that he would need to remain committed to the cause of Christ, no matter how bumpy the road may become. The role Timothy had to play was multifaceted, requiring compassion as well as tough love. Timothy would need to preach the Word to those who would listen, but also rebuke those who refused to accept it. The temptation would be to sugar coat the truth and to alter the message to make it more acceptable. The lure of popularity is always a real threat to any pastor/teacher. But you don’t build a strong church by building a large following. You don’t grow believers by growing your reputation.

In this opening episode, we are going to focus our attention on one particular subject: The Word of Life. John opens his letter by referring to “that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life…”.  And he will go on to talk about this word of life being made manifest or made known, and how he had been one of those who had been privileged to get a first-hand, up-close-and-personal glimpse of this “life”. Of course, we know John is referring to Jesus, but we sometimes lose sight of the fact that John calls Jesus the “eternal life.” He is not just the source of eternal life, He is, in fact, eternal life itself. It was His life that made eternal life possible. It was His willing, sacrificial death on the cross that made forgiveness of sins and a restored relationship with God the Father achievable. The Word of God became flesh and dwelt among us. And that event brought about a revolutionary change in mankind’s relationship with God. For the first time, it was possible for men and women to enjoy a right standing with God based on the righteousness of another – a perfect righteousness made possible by the Word of Life.  

While the letter of First John is relatively short in length, it is anything but short on depth. Just five chapters long, it is one of the most theologically rich books in the entire New Testament. And for that reason, we are going to take our time working our way through it. While this is not intended to be a verse by verse study, you will find that we are going to spend a bit more time digging into each chapter, so that we can better understand all that John is trying to say.

In today’s episode, we’ll remain in the first four verses of 1 John 1. This episode is entitled “Something Worth Proclaiming” because John is going to address that passion he shared with the other disciples for sharing the good news regarding Jesus Christ, the Word of Life. John’s desire was that others would come a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ as their Savior and enjoy not only fellowship with God the Father, but with the rest of the body of Christ. For John, the real heart of the matter was the non-negotiable nature of Christ’s incarnation. In other words, the gospel was completely dependent upon the reality that Jesus, the Son of God, had taken on human flesh and lived among us as a man – but without sin. Jesus wasn’t just another man. He wasn’t merely a good teacher with some powerful moral truths to share. He was the very Son of God and, therefore, God Himself. And not only that, Jesus was, by His own self-admission, the only means by which men could be restored to a right relationship with God. And that was a truth John found more than worth proclaiming.

Today’s episode is entitled “The Incarnation” and is based on the first four verses of 1 John chapter 1. We have chosen to remain in these opening verses because there is a lot of rich content packed into what seems to be a short section of Paul’s letter. The incarnation, or Jesus’ taking on of human flesh, is an essential doctrine of the church. For Paul, it was non-negotiable and critical in terms of the entire gospel message. Had Jesus not become a man and lived a sinless life, He would not have been the proper sacrifice to pay for the sins of mankind. His divinity and humanity were both necessary. He was the God-Man, who was fully capable of living in complete dependence upon God, obeying all His commands and, therefore, accomplishing what no other human being had been able to do. It was His perfect obedience and sinless life that qualified Him to be the unblemished lamb, chosen by God to die in the place of sinful men and women. To refuse Christ’s deity is to deny the gospel. And Paul knew that salvation was impossible apart from the incarnation of Jesus.

For today’s episode we remain in 1 John chapter one, verses 1-4. I’ve entitled this episode “Christ, the Eternal Life” but it has to do with far more than just our future existence in heaven. Far too often, we equate eternal life with eternity. And while that is the ultimate outcome of our faith, Jesus came that we might have abundant life, here and now. Our eternal life does not begin at death or when the Lord returns. It began when we placed our faith in Christ as our Savior. And John wants to point out that Jesus is not just the way to eternal life, He is the eternal life. Jesus even said of Himself, I am the way, and the truth and the life” (John 14:6 ESV). Jesus is the very essence of life. It is only through Him that we can have life – including abundant life here and eternal life in the future. Eternal life is far more than a guarantee of heaven. It is about a relationship with God the Father through Jesus Christ, His Son. John wanted his readers to know that their eternal life began at salvation, because they came to know the one who is eternal life. And he wanted them to live in that reality.

This is our final episode in the first four verses of 1 John chapter one. I’ve entitled this episode “God Made Visible” and it will continue our look at the divinity and humanity of Christ. John is adamant about establishing the veracity of Jesus’ claim to be the Son of God come in human flesh. There is no doubt that this claim is difficult to get your head around. It sounds unbelievable, if not preposterous. And, as in John’s day, there are still many who find it difficult to swallow the idea of God becoming a man and living among us. That God would use a human being as His spokesperson or as an example of righteous living is a whole lot more believable. But, according to John and the other apostles, that is not what God did. He sent His Son. Jesus, the second member of the Trinity, appeared as a man and made God visible. He walked among men. He knew what it was like to suffer from hunger, grow tired, be tempted, cry, face rejection, and eventually die. And He did it all without committing a single sin. Unbelievable? No doubt about it.   

With this episode, we move into the next section of John’s letter. For the next few weeks we will be camping in 1 John chapter one, verse five, through chapter two, verse two. Today’s episode is entitled, “Light in the Darkness” and will describe not only the coming of Christ as the light of the world, but the transformative power of that light to change the way we live our lives. John will use the contrasting images of light and dark to help us understand the dramatic nature of the change that Jesus’ coming into the world was meant to produce. There are no gray areas with Jesus. He’s not a dim light that barely makes a dent in the darkness. He is the all-powerful light of God that permeates and penetrates, not only illuminating, but eliminating the sin that darkens the lives of mankind. But as John will make painfully clear, there are still those who prefer living in the dark. They hate having their sins exposed and find comfort in the hiddenness that comes with living in darkness. And when we as believers choose the darkness over the light, John says we do not practice the truth.    

This is our second episode on 1 John chapter one, verse five, through chapter two, verse two. Today’s episode is entitled, “If we say…” and in it we are going to take a close look at what John had to say to those who denied their need for a Savior. For some, it showed up in their unbelievable denial of even having a sin nature. Others simply said they were not guilty of sin. But in either case, John had strong words for them. They were liars and living in a fantasy world. We can say what we want about sin. We can deny its existence. We can refuse to admit we commit sin. We can try and diminish the gravity of the sins we do commit. But our opinion is not the one that matters. It’s not what we say. It’s what God has said. And He has made it quite clear that ALL have sinned. Not some. All. And the penalty for sin is death. But the good news is, there’s a way of escape. There’s a means by which we can have our sin debt wipe clean and our penalty taken care of. Once and for all.

Today, we continue our look at 1 John chapter one, verse five, through chapter two, verse two. Today’s episode is entitled, “To Sin or Not to Sin” because in these verses John is going to address the ever-present reality of sin in the life of the believer. While we have been freed from the penalty for our sin, we have not had the presence of sin eradicated from our lives. We still harbor our sin nature and must daily battle with its presence and its desire to fulfill what Paul calls the desires of the flesh. But John is going to make it perfectly plain that, as believers, we no longer have to sin. We have an option. Because we now have the Holy Spirit of God residing within us, empowering us to resist the pervading influence of the flesh. We can say no to sin and yes to righteousness. It is a daily choice, a minute-by-minute decision. And John will remind us that when we do sin, because we will, we don’t have to despair, we simply need to confess our sin and receive God’s forgiveness – paid for by the death of Jesus Christ on the cross.

This is our fourth episode on 1 John chapter one, verse five, through chapter two, verse two. This episode is entitled, “The Danger of Deception” and deals with three very dangerous perceptions that lurked in the church to which John wrote. They each involve sin and our outlook regarding it. There are those who deny its very existence and, as a result, deny their need for salvation. They believe sin is simply a figment of man’s imagination or a throw-back to less enlightened times in man’s long history. Sin is nothing more than the natural outcome of a lack of education or opportunities. It’s merely a byproduct of man’s environment. Then there are those who acknowledge the reality of sin, but who deny their guilt when it gets exposed in their lives. They simply refuse to admit they did something wrong. But there is a third group John addresses. These individuals claimed to be walking in the light, but their behavior revealed something altogether different. Their lives were characterized by darkness, not light. And like the other two groups, they were living a lie and, in the end, only managing to deceive themselves.

This is our fifth episode on 1 John chapter one, verse five, through chapter two, verse two. This episode is entitled, “Godly Fellowship” and addresses John’s emphasis on our need for ongoing and uninterrupted fellowship with God and His Son. It is our fellowship with God and Jesus that makes possible godly fellowship with other believers. As we live in the light, we are able to reflect that light on to others. It was the apostle Paul who said, “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:6 ESV). It is impossible to spend time in the light of God’s presence and not have His glory reflect on to those around us. We end up being transformed into the likeness of Christ and bearing His characteristics in the form of the fruit of the Spirit. Fellowship with God the Father and Jesus Christ, His Son, is essential to our ability to live in unity with others.

This is the final episode on 1 John chapter one, verse 5 through chapter two, verse 2. It is called “Jesus Christ, the Righteous” and will take a look at John’s powerful description of Jesus as our advocate or intercessor in heaven. He not only died for us, He currently represents us in the throne room of God, His life a constant reminder to God the Father that our sins have been paid for in full. We no longer face any threat of judgment for our sins – past, present or future. In fact, Paul would have us remember, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1 ESV). All because we have been given the righteousness of Christ. He took on our sins and their penalty. We took on His righteousness. It is what is often called The Great Exchange. And while we still harbor a sin nature and must crucify the flesh on a daily basis, we can do so in the power of the Spirit and with the assurance that any sins we commit are paid for and fully forgiven when confessed.  

In today’s episode, we will be in 1 John chapter two, verse 3-11. I’ve entitled this episode “By This We Know”, which just happens to be the name of this entire series. John will use that phrase repeatedly throughout his letter, because he wants his readers to know for certain that they are saved and that they can live lives that express the reality of their salvation. He wants them to know that they have been transformed from darkness into light. But if that is the case, as he strongly believes it is, their lives should reflect their new nature. Their behavior should give evidence of the radical transformation that faith in Christ has brought about. One of the main evidences John gives of having been saved is a new-found ability to keep the commands of Christ. Obedience becomes not only possible, but a normal part of the believer’s life. We not only have Christ living in us, we have His life being expressed through us – in our words and actions. And that Spirit-produced ability to live Christ-like is proof of our salvation.

This is part two in our look at 1 John chapter two, verse 3-11. This episode is entitled “The Fading Darkness” and will deal with John’s assessment of the state of things since the Light of the world entered the scene. It may surprise you. Because we live in a time when it seems like the darkness, or evil, is having a field day and the good guys are losing. But John would have us remember that the darkness is passing away, whether it looks like it or not. Jesus Christ has conquered death and sin. He has already won the victory and it only a matter of time before His light eliminates the darkness once and for all. But in the meantime, we are to be His lights in this world. We are to reflect the light of Christ in such a way that our lives not only expose the darkness around us, they help eliminate it. The church, the body of Christ, is to be an agent of change in the world, providing evidence of God’s miraculous and gracious transformative power, made possible through His Son. Like Him, we are to be lights in the world, shining strongly so that the darkness around us fades away.

In this third episode on 1 John chapter two, verse 3-11, we will be looking at what it means to walk like Jesus walked. John will point blank tell us that our walk or lifestyle is to emulate that of Jesus. And when we walk as He walked, we will know that we are in Him. In other words, we will have assurance of our salvation by virtue of our transformed behavior. But one of the things John will drive home is that a love for others is to be a hallmark of the one who has come to know Christ. Jesus loved, so we are to love. And we are to love as He has loved us. And to claim that you know Christ and have had the darkness of your life exposed and replaced with the light of Christ, all the while hating another brother or sister in Christ is a sign that something is desperately wrong. Love is a non-negotiable outcome of having your heart transformed by the grace, mercy and love of God. Failure to love is evidence that you have never fully experienced the love and forgiveness of God. It is to walk in the flesh, not like Jesus walked.

This is episode four on 1 John chapter two, verses 3-11 and we will continue to dig into John’s admonition that we love others. John describes what we are to do as a new commandment, one given to us by Jesus Himself. This is not an optional or discretionary suggestion, but a command. And our obedience to it is not left up to our own flesh, weakened as it is by sin. We have been given the Spirit of God, who provides us with the power of God, and makes it possible to love as we have been loved by God. In a world that is marred by hate and superficial forms of selfish, self-centered love, we are to model Christ-like love that is totally selfless and sacrificial. That is why Jesus said the world would know we are His disciples by the way we love one another. That kind of love is not of this world. It is supernatural and impossible to create on our own. The world doesn’t have a version of that kind of love. It is alien and other-worldly. Men can try to fake it, but they can’t make it. One of the reasons God left us here is so that we might be the means by which His love manifests itself in flesh and blood.

As should be fairly obvious by now, these nine verses are jam-packed and that’s why we are doing our fifth episode on 1 John chapter two, verses 3-11. This one is called, “Something Old. Something New” and will take a look at John’s new take on an old commandment. As has been the case in the last four episodes, the subject matter is love, but this time, John will link our love of God with our love of others. And who did he get that idea from? Jesus Himself. Jesus was the one who described the love of God and others as the two greatest commandments. And John simply drives home the point that you can’t truly love God if you refuse to love your brother or sister in Christ. One of the things we tend to forget is that our love for others is actually an expression of our love for God. When we love those whom He has made, we are loving Him. His love for us is meant to flow through us, not come to a screeching halt on us. His love is intended to be shared. And while Jesus Christ was the ultimate expression of the love of God, as Christ-followers, we are to manifest that love to others on a daily basis.    

Anyone who has ever spent any time in the dark knows that stumbling comes with the territory. The inability to see clearly makes it almost impossible for us to walk safely and confidently. And in this, the sixth episode on 1 John 2, verses 3-11, we are going to hear what John has to say about the consequences of living in the dark. I’ve entitled this episode, “No Cause for Stumbling” because John is going to tell us that we should have no excuse if we stumble and fall or if we cause another to do the same. We are children of the light. We have the light of Christ living within us and the light of God’s Word available to us. So, seeing clearly and walking confidently should not be a problem for us. Unless of course, we choose to ignore the light. Darkness is nothing more than an absence of light. And when we refuse to spend time in the Word, deepening our relationship with God and growing in our knowledge of Jesus Christ, we end up stumbling around in the dark. And like the blind leading the blind, our lifestyle influences all those around us.

This is the final episode on 1 John 2:3-11 and it is entitled, “I Know That I Know.” John wanted his readers to know that they know. In other words, he was anxious that the believers to whom he was writing were confident in their knowledge of God. And the best way to assure them of their relationship with God was to be found in their obedience TO God. Those who have come to know Jesus Christ as their Savior, will live differently, because they have the Spirit of God living within them. They have a new capacity to live in obedience to God because they possess the power of God in the form of His Spirit. It is when we see that we are actually able to obey God that we begin to realize that our relationship with Him is real and our knowledge of Him has moved from head knowledge to actual heart knowledge. Anyone can claim to know God. But it is only those who have actually come into a relationship with Him through faith in His Son who can truly boast of knowing God. And the proof is in their obedience to Him.

For the next seven days, we will be looking at 1 John 2, verses 12-17. As we saw in the first 11 verses of this chapter, John has the ability to squeeze a lot of content into a very small space. These verses are packed with insight and encouragement, and in them, he will address the need for believers to stand firm in their faith, fully confident that Christ has accomplished a major victory for them. They are fully equipped to live the life they have been called to live. They need not fear failure or losing their salvation. While they will face confrontation from the world and the ongoing attacks of the enemy, the victory is assured because Jesus has taken care of it. John will give some strong words of warning about falling in love with the world. It is impossible to love God and share that affection with a fallen world that is diametrically opposed to Him. This world is temporal, not eternal. What it offers is of no value compared to the knowledge that we have new life in Christ now and eternal life waiting for us in the future.

This is our second episode looking at 1 John 2, verses 12-17, and is entitled, “A Timely Reminder”, because it contains some encouraging words we all need to hear. While John was writing to a particular group of believers, his words are inspired by the Holy Spirit and are timeless in nature. In these verses, he will remind us of some irrefutable facts about us due to our relationship with Jesus Christ. It is amazing how easy it is for us to forget these truths or simply become so complacent about them, that they no longer carry any weight in our lives. But John would have us reconsider the incredible nature of what God has done for us and to us as a result of His Son’s death on the cross. We have been made right with God. No more condemnation. No more fear of death. We have forgiveness of sins and the peace that comes with knowing that our eternity is secure. And if there was ever a time we needed to hear those words, it is now.

In this, the third episode on at 1 John 2, verses 12-17, we’ll be discussing, “Misplaced Love.” John is going to contrast a love for God as illustrated in our love for others with a love for the world and the things it offers. These are not two available options for our love, they are opposites. You can’t love the world and love God at the same time. And it is hard to love others when we’re busy loving the things of this world and buying into their constant temptations to meet our every self-centered need. Love for the world is innately selfish. It is all about us. We love the world for what it can offer us in return. We give it our time, attention and affections, because it promises to make us happy, fulfilled, successful, popular, and satisfied. But love for God is other-oriented. It focuses on the needs of others. We love, not to get something in return, but simply because He first loved us. Loving the world makes it all about us. Loving God makes it all about others.

This is episode four on 1 John chapter 2, verses 12-17. It’s entitled, “Self-gratification” because that seems to be one of the main points John is trying to make. Love of the world is ultimately love of self. We don’t really love the world. We simply love what we believe the world can offer us. It holds out a host of tempting allurements that it offers in return for our time, attention and affections. It is the same tactic Satan used on Jesus during His time in the wilderness. Matthew records, “Next the devil took him to the peak of a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. ‘I will give it all to you,’ he said, ‘if you will kneel down and worship me’” (Matthew 4:8-9 NLT). Satan, the prince of this world is always seeking to get us to turn our love for God on to ourselves. He wants us to make it all about us. But self-love is ultimately self-destructive. And our love affair with the world is nothing more than a not-so-subtle ploy to make life all about us.

This episode is entitled, “Self-indulgence” and is our fifth on 1 John chapter 2, verses 12-17. We are still looking at verse 16 and the second phrase John uses to describe our love of the world. The New Living Translation calls it “a craving for everything we see.” It’s an insatiable desire for all the goodies the world offers us, from fame and recognition to the latest technological devices and trendy fashions. We see it and we have to have it. And while most of the things we crave are not evil or declared off-limits by God, they still pose a danger for us. It is far too easy for us to see these things as the source of our satisfaction and sense of self-worth. They become another means by which we practice self-love. We convince ourselves that we deserve them. We rationalize that they will make us happy. And in doing so, we turn them into little gods that we fully expect to meet our needs. But they almost always prove to be impotent and incapable of delivering what they promise. They can’t return our love.

This is our sixth episode on 1 John chapter 2, verses 12-17 and our final one on verse 16. I’ve entitled is, “Self-glorification.” So far, we’ve looked at the dangers of self-gratification and self-indulgence. They are both forms of self-love. And so is this third one: Self-glorification. When we love the world and the things it has to offer, it can often take the form of our worldly accomplishments and material possessions. These things make us feel special. They provide us with a sense of self-worth and a means by which to measure our status. They feed our ego and stroke our pride. Which is about as dangerous as feeding the bears in a national forest. It looks innocent enough, but it could turn out to bite you. John wants us to avoid all forms of self-glorification. It’s probably one of the most insidious forms of self-love, because we don’t even realize that we are making ourselves our own gods. We look at our resume or our checking accounts and begin to believe that we are self-made and self-sufficient. And rather than glorify God, we glory in ourselves.

This is the seventh and final episode on 1 John chapter 2, verses 12-17. I’ve entitled it, “The Folly of What is Fading.” In this one verse, verse 17, John is going to remind us just how ridiculous it is to love this world and the things it offers, because it and everything on it, are on their way out. They are fading, rusting, and losing their value. But he would have us remember that we are eternal creatures, complete with souls that will last forever. When we become infatuated with this present reality, we tend to take our eyes off our future eternity. We begin to live as if this is all there is. We focus all our affections on this life. We attempt to enjoy all the pleasures of life while we can. It’s only natural. But John wants us to live with a heavenly mindset. This world is not our home. We are passing through on our way to some place better. The pleasures of this life are nothing to be compared with what is to come. There’s only one thing on this earth that is going to last and that’s people.

Today we start on a new section of 1 John. For the next seven episodes, we are going to spend our time in 1 John, chapter two, verses 18-27. And this first episode is entitled, “Who Do You Say That I Am?” This was a question Jesus asked His disciples and it is still the most important question any man or woman has to answer. And ultimately, everyone WILL have to give an answer. And John wants us to realize that there is only one right answer. Jesus is the Christ. But what does that even mean? That is what we hope to answer as we unpack these 10 verses over the next seven episodes. Believing that Jesus was a man who actually lived and was crucified on a Roman cross is not the same thing as believing He was the Christ. Respecting Jesus as a great example of moral living and ethical teaching is not the same thing as recognizing Him as your Savior. Even admitting that He was the Son of God is not the same thing as confessing Him as your Lord. Knowing about Jesus is not enough. But trusting in Him is.

This is the second of seven episodes on 1 John, chapter two, verses 18-27. It’s entitled, “Truth Is Not Relative” and is going to deal with the common misconception that truth is highly subjective. In John’s day, just as in ours, there were a lot of people who rejected Jesus’ claim to be the truth, the only truth. There were more than enough people who were willing to admit that Jesus lived and died. They might even admit that He was sent by God. But as far as being the Messiah and the God-Man who died on the cross for the sins of mankind, that was another matter. Jesus’ claim to be the way, the truth and the life has always had its detractors and deniers. The exclusivity of that claim has always left some shaking their head in disbelief. It comes across to them as arrogant and intolerant. They can’t imagine a god who offer something so significant as eternal life and then be so unjust as to offer only one way of attaining it. But John wants us to know that anyone who claims a truth other than Christ is not only mistaken, they’re a liar.

This is episode three on 1 John, chapter two, verses 18-27. I’ve entitled it “The Last Hour.” In it, we will find John giving his best effort to warn his readers about the spirit of the antichrist. This term is one that most of us associate with the end times, a time period somewhere out in the distant future that we hope to avoid at all costs. But John was under the impression, the divinely-inspired impression, that he was living in the last times. And so are we. They began the day Jesus ascended into heaven and sent His Spirit to dwell among us and within us. So, for more than 2,000 years, we have been living within a period of time that is moving steadily closer to a point of culmination. John told his readers that they were living in the last hour. But Peter would have us remember, “A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day.” (2 Peter 3:8 NLT). We don’t know God’s schedule, but we do know that we are living in the last days because of the growing antipathy and animosity toward Christ.

This is our fourth episode on 1 John, chapter two, verses 18-27. I’ve entitled it “When Christians Become Anti-Christ.” That title may surprise you a bit. But John would have us know that it’s not only possible, it is probable, if and when we refuse to keep our hope focused on the gospel of Jesus and the all-sufficient sacrifice of Jesus Christ for not only our salvation, but our sanctification. It is far easier than we might realize to become anti-Christ. When we stand against His will for us or refuse to allow Him to work through us, we end up opposed to Him. When we begin to think that we can handle our lives without Him or achieve some level of holiness apart from Him, we end up standing in opposition to Him. When Satan attempted to get Adam and Eve to disobey God and eat from the forbidden tree, he simply said, “Surely God has not said.” He got them to doubt God’s word. He led them to question God’s motives. And as soon as they ate, they became anti-God. And it’s still a risk we all face today.

In this fifth episode on 1 John, chapter two, verses 18-27, we’ll be looking at the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives. John wants us to know that we have a capacity to know truth and to live in the knowledge of that truth. And it’s all due to the indwelling presence of the Spirit of God. As Christians living in the midst of a fallen world, we are surrounded by lies and half-truths. Satan, under whose influence the majority of people in the world are held captive, wants to contradict and confuse the truth of God. He wants to dilute the message of the gospel and refute the promises of God. He offers us counterfeit gospels and feasible-sounding solutions to our problems. But they are all lies. And the only way we can spot the lies is with the help of the Spirit of God. That’s why I’ve called this episode, “Our Spiritual Lie Detector.” The Holy Spirit is an invaluable resource when it comes to knowing the truth of God and spotting the lies of the enemy. Between the Spirit of God and the Word of God, we can know the truth.

This is episode six on 1 John, chapter two, verses 18-27. It’s entitled, “Staying Power” because that is exactly what John’s audience needed. They were struggling. They were under attack and suffering persecution for their faith. They had even had a split in their fellowship, with some of their so-called brothers and sisters leaving in a far-from-understanding manner. Questions were flying. Doubts were growing. Their new-found faith had started to hit some major road blocks and John worried that they would throw in the towel. Coming to faith is easy. Staying committed to the faith in the face of daily opposition is another thing. So, John is going to provide them with some very timely words of encouragement and exhortation. He wanted them to stay strong. He wanted them to rest in the assurance of their salvation and the truth of the gospel message they had received. They were not to give up or give in. Regardless of what happened to them or around them.

This will be our final episode on 1 John, chapter two, verses 18-27 and it’s called, “When Love Gets Lost.” The truth is, the body of Christ, the church, can be a difficult place to show love. Why? Because it’s made up of people who, while saved, still happen to have sin natures that can cause disunity and dissension. As sinners, saved by grace, we can still hurt one another. We can sin against one another. But one of the things that should set us apart as those who have experienced the grace and mercy of God as expressed in the loving sacrifice of His Son, is our commitment to love one another. A failure to love is often a sign that we never truly experienced the love of God to begin with. If we claim to love Him, but refuse to love our brothers and sisters in Christ, John would say we don’t have the love of God within us. Our inability to love others could be a symptom of our unsaved state. Coming to faith in Christ should produce within us a supernatural capacity to love as we have been loved: Sacrificially and selflessly. Expecting nothing in return.

This is the first of seven episodes on 1 John, chapter two, verse 28 through chapter 3, verse 10. I’ve entitled this episode, “Practice Does NOT Make Perfect.” In this passage, John is going to drive home a very critical point that many of us as believers tend to overlook. It has to do with the source of our righteousness. For some reason, we tend to think righteousness is up to us. We know we are to live righteous lives. It’s an expectation God has of us. But where we get confused and wander from the truth is when we believe our righteousness is up to us. John is going to accentuate our need for righteousness, but he is also going to remind us that it is a byproduct of our relationship with Christ, not something we manufacture on our own. And that is a very important distinction. Self-righteousness is self-defeating. On our own, we can’t do the kinds of good works that God demands of us. And He has not asked us to pursue righteousness on our own. In fact, any righteousness we exhibit in our lives is simply proof of our relationship with Christ. It is Him working through us, not us working for Him.

This is our second episode looking at 1 John, chapter two, verse 28 through chapter three, verse 10. It’s entitled “The Sinless Sin Less.” And more than just a clever play on words, this title reflects the reality of our new relationship with God made possible through faith in Jesus Christ. We have a newfound capacity to live righteous lives in a world filled with unrighteousness. We can live godly, even when we find ourselves living in the midst of a godless generation. Coming to faith in Christ is about far more than a guarantee of eternal life. That is the culmination of our faith journey. But it begins with the filling of the Holy Spirit and His empowering presence that makes it possible for us to live Christ-like lives right here, right now. But as John will point out, it is all based on our willingness to abide in Christ and allow His Spirit to work in us and through us. Sin is an ever-present possibility as long as we live in these earthly bodies. But we are no longer sinners by nature. We have been given a new nature and a new capacity to say yes to God and no to sin. As long as we abide.  

In this, our third episode on 1 John, chapter two, verse 28 through chapter three, verse 10, we’ll be looking at John’s words of encouragement related to a coming day when we will no longer have to struggle with sin any longer. I’ve called this episode, “The Best is Yet to Come” because John wants us to know that God’s promise of eternal life comes with a guarantee of sinlessness. Sin will be done away with altogether. And at that point, we will not only be seen as righteous before God because of what Christ has done for us, we will actually be righteous. In every way. Our old sin natures will be done away with once and for all. And the point of all this, is that we should live with the promise of future sinlessness in mind. The joy of that day should give us the motivation to live in this day with a sense of determination ­– to live righteous lives – saying no to sin and yes to God’s will for our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin, and we have new natures and the Holy Spirit’s presence to help us. We can and should live righteous lives even now, as we wait for our future inheritance.

This is our fourth episode on 1 John, chapter two, verse 28 through chapter three, verse 10. It’s entitled, “Seek and Destroy” and deals with our ongoing need to put to death the deeds of the flesh. For John, it’s all about practicing righteousness. In other words, living a life in keeping with our new standing as sons and daughters of God. The very fact that we can choose to do what God considers as righteous is proof that we have His Spirit living within us. And one of the Spirit’s primary roles in our lives is to expose the sin that remains so that we can confess it and receive full forgiveness for it. Paul would have us remember that we are engaged in an ongoing spiritual battle that pits us against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” We have an enemy that hates us and is out to destroy us. But we have a heavenly Father who loves us and is out to seek and destroy those remaining vestiges of sin lingering within us. We no longer have to live like mindless slaves, giving in to the temptations of the enemy and the passions of our old sin natures. We can practice righteousness, because we are children of God.

This is episode five on 1 John, chapter two, verse 28 through chapter three, verse 10. It’s entitled, “Abide and Accept” and deals with two things we must do if we are to experience the fullness of life that Jesus came to bring us. We must abide in Christ and accept who we are as children of God. Those two things, while simple sounding, are actually quite difficult for most of us as believers to pull off. In this life, there are so many other things in which we can abide or find rest. We can turn to materialism, affluence, pleasure and a host of things we think will sustain and satisfy us. But we are to abide in Christ. And in a world where personal identity seems to be confused and distorted by the lies of the enemy, God would have us find our identity in who we are as His children. He wants us to accept the reality of our designation as his son and daughters. Those two things will have a dramatic influence on our walk and keep us living in faithful submission to and dependence upon God all the days we live on this planet.

This is the sixth episode on 1 John, chapter two, verse 28 through chapter three, verse 10. It’s called, “The Lure of Lawlessness” and will confront us with the ever-present danger we all face of giving in to a spirit of lawlessness or sin. For John, sin was more than just a singular act one commits in disobedience to God. It is a spirit of opposition to God. It is living your life in rebellion against the will of God. And, as far as John was concerned, those who made a practice of sinning, who lived in a habitual state of sin, were opposed to God. Their sin was lawlessness, living as if the laws of God did not even exist. And even believers can find themselves falling into the trap of lawlessness – if they do not abide in Christ. Without the power that comes from abiding in or remaining in Christ, we can fall prey to our own sin natures and become susceptible to the influences of the enemy. When we become unmoored or untethered from Christ, we find ourselves adrift in the current of life without any means of directing our course or navigating the dangers of life. That is why abiding is so important in the life of the believer.

This is episode one looking at 1 John, chapter three, verses 11-24. It’s entitled, “Walk the Talk” and takes a look at John’s strong belief that who we are, as children of God, should impact all that we do. One of the outcomes of our faith in Christ that John has already stressed is brotherly love. We are to love one another. But it can’t be lip service. It’s not enough to SAY we love others. We must prove it by our actions. Our behavior should give evidence of our changed nature. Claiming to love others is not enough. We must actually live it out in real life with living, breathing human beings. Even those whom we find to be particularly unlovable. In fact, John goes so far as to say that our love should be sacrificial in nature, expressed in a willingness to die for a brother or sister in Christ, if necessary. Love is not optional for the believer. It comes with our new nature and is made possible by the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit. Love is something God produces in us. It is His very essence flowing to us and intended to flow from us. Love isn’t meant to be horded but shared. It isn’t meant to terminate on us, but to emanate from us to all those around us.

This is the final episode on 1 John, chapter two, verse 28 through chapter three, verse 10. It’s entitled, “We Shall Be Like Him” because John is going to discuss that great day when all those who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ will receive glorified bodies and enjoy a state of sinless perfection. That reality should be a huge motivating factor as we live on this planet, waiting for the future day. Our future glorification should inspire us to willingly cooperate with God’s present sanctification of our lives. He is slowly, but surely transforming us into the likeness of His Son, as Paul so aptly puts it, from one degree of glory to another. We are not yet glorified. We still have these earthly bodies and our old sin natures. We experience pain and suffering, find ourselves susceptible to temptation and prone to sin. But with the help of the Holy Spirit, the Word of God and the body of Christ, we are being altered, from the inside out. One day that process will be complete and we will have the incredible joy of discovering that we are like Him, Jesus Christ, the one who saved us.

In this second episode on 1 John, chapter three, verses 11-24 we’ll be looking at two commands we have been given by God: Believe and love. We know what it means to believe. Belief was necessary for us to receive the gift of salvation offered by God through His Son, Jesus Christ. Our belief in Jesus made our salvation possible. And we know that God expects us to love one another. But as well as we know these two things, we still struggle with doing them. Our belief in Christ can wax and wane. Our love for others can grow cold. But John would have us remember that these two commands: Believe and love others, are to be ongoing and forever increasing in our lives as followers of Christ. Over time, our belief in Him should grow stronger. Our confidence in who He is and what He has accomplished for us should expand the longer we serve Him. And our love for others should become an increasingly normal and natural part of our lives. These two things are commands, not suggestions. They are to be a non-negotiable part of who we are as followers of Christ. Belief is to be ongoing. Love for others is to be constantly increasing. Because we are sons and daughters of God.  

This is our third episode on 1 John, chapter three, verses 11-24 and we’ll be concentrating our attention on verse 12. Here, John brings up two Old Testament characters, two brothers, and uses them to describe what it means to love. I have called this episode “The Cain Mutiny” because it deals with the sin of Cain when he killed his brother in cold blood. This first murder in human history was motivated by hate. Cain hated Abel. But why? That is the important part of John’s message that we need to grasp. It would be easy to make the story of Cain and Abel about offerings, but it has far more to do with love. Cain lacked love for his brother, because he didn’t know what it meant to love God. He didn’t have faith in God. His offering didn’t measure up, because he didn’t measure up. His offering wasn’t given in love and out of faith. It was an attempt to placate God and keep Him happy. But when his offering was refused by God and his brother’s was accepted, the true nature of Cain was exposed. He hated. And his hatred led to murder. And it was all rebellion against God.       

This fourth episode on 1 John, chapter three, verses 11-24 deals with love and hate, life and death. For John, these things were real and provided a vivid contrast for what it means to live as a Christian in a disbelieving world. We have new life in Christ. And as a result, we are to love. We live in a world filled with hate, but we are to love. We live, surrounded by people condemned to death for their sins, but we have life – abundant life here and now and eternal life to come. We are to provide a stark contrast to the world around us. Unlike Cain, we are not to hate anymore. Hate leads to murder and death. It was Jesus who said, “You have heard that our ancestors were told, ‘You must not murder. If you commit murder, you are subject to judgment.’ But I say, if you are even angry with someone, you are subject to judgment!” (Matthew 5:21-22 NLT). As believers in Christ, we have been called to a new standard and a new life – one marked by love, not hatred. But our new lives in Christ will not be accepted by those with whom we live. They will despise and hate us. They will reject us. Because we represent the light and the light exposes sin.

In this, our fifth episode on 1 John, chapter three, verses 11-24, we be digging further into John’s thoughts regarding love and hate. For John, love was an essential characteristic of the believer’s life that was non-negotiable. It came with the territory, because God Himself is love and we are the children of God. As His sons and daughters, we are to love as He has loved us. It is part of our new nature. Our new life in Christ provides us with a new capacity to love one another, no matter how unlovely or unlovable the other person might be. The love of God allows us to love those who don’t look like us, act like us, think like us, or even speak the same language as us. This new, Spirit-produced love, is non-judgmental and doesn’t show favoritism. It is selfless and gracious. It is forgiving, patient and kind. It knows no boundaries, refusing to let things like race, economic status or educational accomplishment determine its target. This kind of love is addictive and attractive to some, while repugnant to others. It is difficult to comprehend and impossible to replicate. Because it comes from God. It is not of this world. Which is why the world hates it and all those who exhibit it.

This is episode six on 1 John, chapter three, verses 11-24. I’ve entitled it “God Knows, Don’t Panic” because John is going to give us some much-needed words of encouragement regarding our love for one another. By this point, John’s persistent call to love has probably left a few of us wondering whether we have it in us to love like he is describing. It seems impossible, especially if you take into account that our love is to be unconditional and impartial. But John seems to be sending us a message that any love we show for one another is of God. We didn’t pull it off on our own. God is revealing His love in us and through us. And as a result, that should cause us to have confidence is our salvation, not to question it. There will be times when we feel unloving. We will experience those moments when it seems as if our love has fallen short of God’s high standard. But John would have us remember that even if we feel guilty, God is greater than our feelings. He knows everything. He knows our hearts. And He knows when we are loving, not in our own strength, but as a result of His Spirit’s work within us.   

This is the final episode on 1 John, chapter three, verses 11-24. I’ve entitled it “Kids In A Candy Store” because verses 21 and 22 seem to give the indication that, as God’s children, we have been given a no-holds-barred, get-whatever-you-want promise from God that guarantees us that all our prayers will be answered. But is that really what John is teaching? Is he telling us that God is somehow obligated to give us whatever we ask for, no matter what? As usual, the key to understanding these verses is based on context. We have to keep in mind all that John has said so far in his letter. And a big part of what he has been dealing with is the issue of abiding in Christ. Prayer is to be a byproduct of our abiding. And what we pray for should reflect that we are deeply reliant upon and in step with God’s will for us. This isn’t so much about us getting what we want from God, but about us learning to desire what God wants for us, then asking Him for it. Our willingness to abide in Christ will have a dramatic impact on our ability to pray dependently and receive successfully.   

This is episode one on 1 John, chapter four, verses 1-6. I’ve entitled it “That’s the Spirit” because John is going to repeatedly use the Greek word, pneuma, which can be translated as Spirit and oftentimes refers to the Spirit of God. But to just what kind of spirit is it that John refers? How are we to know that what we hear preached or taught is of God? How are we to tell the difference between God’s Spirit and what John refers to as the spirit of the antichrist? As with everything else John has said in the last three chapters, it all hinges on who we believe Jesus to be. Was He the Son of God and the Savior of the world? Had He been sent by God to sacrifice His life on behalf of sinful mankind and to die as a substitute for the penalty we deserved? If anyone preaches something other than Jesus as Lord and Savior, they are the wrong kind of spirit. They have the wrong kind of message. And they are to be avoided at all costs. The Spirit of God will always lift up the Son of God. And that’s the only Spirit worth listening to.

This is episode two on 1 John, chapter four, verses 1-6. It’s called “Spiritual White Noise” and deals with all the confusing and seemingly contradictory information we receive under the guise of spiritual teaching. The Church, the body of Christ, has always attracted charlatans and wanna-bes. Individuals who claim to speak on behalf of God and try to weasel their way into the good graces of the people of God. They tend to offer novel approaches to the Christian life, not easily supported by Scripture. They give interpretations of God’s Word that don’t gel with orthodox Christianity, but present a new, more up-to-date take on spiritual life. But John would have us be wary and watchful. He would warn us to test the spirits. Not everybody who claims to speak on behalf of God has been sent by God. And if we’re not careful, we can easily find ourselves led astray and captured by the attractive messages of these false teachers. There will always be posers and fakers, masquerading as pastors and teachers. But rather than teach the truth of God and present Jesus as the Son of God and the sole means of salvation, they will offer up alternative gospels. But John says, don’t believe them.

This is our third episode on 1 John, chapter four, verses 1-6. It’s called “Holy Help” and addresses the role of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer. One of the things all followers of Christ will face in their lifetimes is the presence of false teachers who claim to be speaking on behalf of God. These posers and fakers will look the part, but will present information that is contrary to God’s will. Their messages will be subtly deceptive. They will mix falsehood with a little bit of truth. They will sound convincing and come across as loving and caring. So, what are we to do? John would have us rely upon the Holy Spirit, the helper provided to us by God Himself. The Spirit of God lives within each and every believer, providing them with wisdom and empowering them to live godly lives. And that power should not be taken for granted. His strength is what makes it possible for us to thrive in the midst of a sin-filled world. And He is the one who makes it possible for us to spot false teaching by helping us understand the truth of God’s Word. He is the holy help we need for living in a less-than-holy world.

This is episode four on 1 John, chapter four, verses 1-6 and I’ve entitled it, “Listen Carefully”.  John has been discussing the all-important role of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer. But for us to take advantage of the “helper” as Jesus described Him, we are going to have to learn to listen to Him. And He primarily speaks to us through the Word of God, the Scriptures. In the writings of John, Matthew, Paul, Peter and the other authors of the New Testament, we have the will of God revealed to us. The Holy Spirit inspired these men to pen the words found in their letters and ultimately included in the canon of Scripture. The same is true of the Old Testament. In the writings of the prophets, the historical chronicles of Moses, and the psalms of David, we have the words of God. And while the Scriptures can sometimes be confusing and difficult to understand, the Holy Spirit makes them discernible and applicable to our lives – even in our modern-day context. We have the ability to hear and comprehend the truth of God as revealed in the Word of God because we have the Spirit of God.

We are still looking at 1 John, chapter four, verses 1-6 and this is our fifth episode on this passage. I’ve entitled it, “True Confessions” because John is going to make a strong distinction between those who confess Jesus and those who confess Him as having come in the flesh. This was a real problem in his day. There were plenty of people who believed that Jesus had been a real-life human being. When John wrote his letter, which was most likely sometime around 67-68 A.D., it had only been three decades since Jesus’ death. There were still plenty of people alive who had seen and heard Jesus during His earthly ministry. There were still eyewitnesses to His resurrection around, such as John himself. So, there really wasn’t a problem with people saying Jesus never existed. The issue was that there were those who claimed He was not divine. They believed Jesus was just a man – a good man, but a man nonetheless. Their rejection of His deity was a dangerous and rapidly growing problem confronting the church. And John was going to address this problem head-on. Anyone who rejected the idea that Jesus was God, was not speaking on behalf of God.

This is episode six on 1 John, chapter four, verses 1-6 and it’s entitled, “Ears to Hear.” One of the things John stresses is the need for the people of God to be discerning. And there is no reason for us not to be. We have the Word of God available to us and the Spirit of God living within us. We have ample help in telling the difference between false teaching and the truth of God. But it requires that we listen carefully. We are not to accept what anyone says just because they claim to speak for God. We live in an age of tolerance and subjectivity. Everyone is free to have their own opinion. We are told not to judge others or to push our views on anyone else. But John would have us remember that there is truth and error, righteousness and unrighteousness. And we are to have nothing to do with those who would twist the truth of God or try to offer a different gospel. Listening to anyone and everything can be dangerous. As children of God, we are equipped to recognize and respond to the Word of God spoken by those who have been called by God.   

This is the final episode on 1 John, chapter four, verses 1-6 and it’s called, “Will the Real Jesus Please Stand Up?” We live in an age of growing skepticism when it comes to the claims of the Bible and, specifically, the message of the gospel. People have no problem believing that Jesus existed as an historical figure. But they have difficulty accepting His deity and the idea of His being the sacrifice for the sins of mankind. So, they invent a different Jesus. They come up with a way to explain away His divinity, by stressing His humanity. And they downplay His role as a Savior by denying the reality of sin. For so many in John’s day, Jesus was seen as a revolutionary who came to change the world, but they refused to see Him as the Savior of the world. And we face the same kind of resistance to the gospel message today. There are so many views about Jesus that it’s hard to keep up with them all. And the greatest problem is that these false views find their way into the thinking of self-proclaimed Christ-followers. Their belief in Jesus becomes tainted by a worldly view of who He was and a human perspective that attempts explain away the sacrificial nature of His death and the need for salvation from sin.  

This is the first of seven episodes on 1 John, chapter four, verses 7-21. I’ve entitled it “Perfect Love” because John is going to continue his discussion of the love we are to exhibit to all those around us. And it isn’t just any kind of love we are to show. It’s godly love. The perfect love of God as expressed through His Son’s sacrificial death on the cross. Godly love is selfless in nature. It isn’t based on the lovability of the one being loved. It isn’t earned or deserved. And the kind of love God has showered on us is the same kind of love we are to share with all those around us. His love gets perfected or completed through us. We end up loving others as we have been loved. We become conduits of His love. And it begins within the body of Christ, but flows out to the lost with whom we live and interact every day. As John puts it so clearly, “We love because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19 ESV). In other words, our love for others is motivated by God’s gracious love for us. We know what perfect love is. But God’s love was not meant to stop with us. It is to be shared.  

This is episode two on 1 John, chapter four, verses 7-21. It’s entitled “God = Love.” In our day and age, it has become increasingly popular to envision God as love. So much so, that many have made His love the only characteristic of God that really matters. The kind of love they speak of is a tolerant, all-accepting kind of love that is devoid of any trace of judgmentalism or punishment for sins committed. The 21st-Century God is all-loving and nothing but loving. But John would have us understand that God’s love for us was best expressed in His own Son’s death for us. God sent Jesus to be the propitiation for our sins. With His substitutionary death on the cross, Jesus paid our sin debt and satisfied the just demands of a holy God. Our sin required a payment. Someone had to die because the penalty for sin is death. But God showed us how much He loved us by sending His Son to die for us. The modern-day version of God has removed His wrath and judgment. It has painted Him as a one-dimensional God who only loves. But the biblical reality is that God is holy and righteous. He loves, but He hates sin. And His justice requires that He deal with sin and the sinner.   

In this, our third episode on 1 John, chapter four, verses 7-21, we’ll continue to explore John’s definition of love. And he will make it quite clear that God is love. He is the ultimate definition of love. We don’t get to define love on our terms. And we don’t get to decide whether God is loving us the way we want to be loved. One of the major problems in our society today is that we have turned love into a self-centered, all-about-me kind of sentiment that begins and ends on us. We decide how we want to be loved and demand that everyone, including God, love us the way we expect. But John will demand that we abide in love – in other words, that we find comfort in the love of God as expressed in the sacrificial death of His Son. If we want to know if God loves us, all we have to do is look at the cross. God’s love for us is not to be measured in the size of our checking account, the square footage of our home, the cost of our car, the absence of difficulties or any feelings of happiness we may enjoy. The love of God is to be found in the Son of God and His death on our behalf. God reconciled us to Himself by sending His Son to pay the penalty for our sins. And we are to remain in that love.

This is episode four on 1 John, chapter four, verses 7-21 and is entitled, “Real Love.” There is a lot of confusion about love these days. So, it is essential that we listen closely to what the apostle John has to say about the topic. He is going to provide us with a vastly different definition of love than what we hear being proclaimed today. The three verses we are going to concentrate our attention on today will give the impression that true love is best expressed through actions. After all, John will remind us: “let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.” So, our love is to be tangible. Talk is cheap. Actions speak louder than words. But is meeting the physical needs of others the only legitimate expression of our love? Is there more that we should be doing? John will talk about Jesus laying down His life for us. And he will challenge us to do the same for others. This isn’t about writing a check, providing a handout, or meeting a temporal need. John is calling us to a greater kind of love, a love that the world cannot offer. It’s a real love that does far more than meet worldly needs or provide temporary relief from pain and suffering.

This is our fifth episode on 1 John, chapter four, verses 7-21 and is entitled, “God Loved.” The love of God is an oft misunderstood topic. Part of the problem is that we bring our own definitions of love to the equation, attempting to force on God our preconceived notions of what it means to show and receive love. But the Bible tells us that God is love. In other words, it is God who gets to define love and it is His very nature that provides the meaning. If God is love, then all that He does is done in love. Love is the permeating quality behind all His actions, whether we see it or not. So, when God tells us to love one another as He has loved us, we need to stop and think about what He is saying. How did He love us? What was the primary way in which He expressed His love to us? God sent His Son to die for us. And while that may appear to us to be a strange way of expressing love, it does not change the fact love is exactly what it was. As John wrote in His gospel, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.”  God loved. Sacrificially. Selflessly. And redemptively.

This is episode six on 1 John, chapter four, verses 7-21. I’ve entitled it, “Love Is of God” because, once again, John is going to stress love as an outflow of the very character of God. Love is not some arbitrary, subjective feeling we conjure up. We don’t even get to define the nature of love. Because as John has already told us, God is love. He is the ultimate definition or expression of love. And John makes it quite clear that we will never fully understand who God is until we come to grips with just how much God loved us – in spite of us. God’s love is directly tied to His holiness and justice. These qualities are not in conflict with one another within the nature of God. He can be loving and just at the same time. He can discipline in love. He can judge sin in love. And nowhere is this better expressed than at the cross. The crucifixion was the focal point on which the love and wrath of God met. He sent His Son to die for us, as an expression of His love. He crucified Christ as an expression of His hatred for sin. The love and wrath of God met at the cross. And had it not happened, we would all be lost.

This is our seventh episode on 1 John, chapter four, verses 7-21. It’s called, “Love Like God Loves” and in it, we will attempt to differentiate what John means when he says we are to love as we have been loved. The standard for our love is heavenly, not earthly. It is not of this world. And we don’t get to determine what that love looks like or how we get to express it. God’s brand of love is different than ours. His love is eternal, not temporal. It doesn’t fade with time or fluctuate based on the actions of the one being loved. God’s love is transformative in nature. It is out to change the one being loved. To improve their life. To give them eternal life. God’s kind of love is redemptive and restorative. And ours should be as well. Our love, like His, should have the best interest of others in mind. We love them, not so they will love us in return, but so that they might know the love of God through us. We want them to know what it feels like to be loved by God as we have been loved by Him. Selflessly, sacrificially, and sanctifyingly.

This is the first of seven episodes on 1 John, chapter five, verses 1-5. This first one is called, “Proof Positive” and will deal with a topic that should be of concern for each and every Christ-follower: The assurance of our salvation. While that is not necessarily the primary thought John was trying to get across in these verses, it comes out loud and clear. The real issue is that of belief. Belief in Jesus Christ as the Savior, sent by God to die for the sins of men. It is our belief in Him that provides us with assurance of our salvation. Not only that, John writes in his gospel, “that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” If we believe that Jesus Christ is our Savior, we can know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that we are saved. And when we find ourselves loving our brothers and sisters in Christ, we are doubly assured, because that capacity to love comes from God. It is His Spirit living within us, made possible by Christ’s death on the cross, that allows us to love selflessly and sacrificially. And to know that we are sons and daughters of God.

This is the second episode on 1 John, chapter five, verses 1-5 and it’s entitled, “Do We Really Love?”. Sometimes we can think we’re loving another individual, while, in fact, we are simply going through the motions. Externally, it may appear as if we are loving, but in reality, our actions are lacking in compassion and love. We look like we’re doing the right thing, but our hearts are not in it. And without love, Paul would say our best actions on our best day, backed by our best intentions, are nothing to brag about. We tend to see love as a list of actions to be taken or commands to be followed. But if our heart isn’t in it, our efforts become little more than legalism, or an attempt to win favor with God. I can give money to the poor, but if I don’t love them while I am doing it, my actions are hollow and empty. And when I love others the way God has loved me, I am actually showing love to Him. And to be able to love others even when I see their flaws and failings, is to love as I have been loved.

In this, our third episode on 1 John, chapter five, verses 1-5, we’ll be taking a look at what John means when he says we have been born of God. He is not talking about creation or our status as human beings. In fact, John uses the term “born of God” to refer exclusively to believers. It is a term of differentiation, used to set us apart from the rest of humanity. We are born from above. In other words, it is the work of God. It is not a physical event, like the one we experienced at birth. It is spiritual in nature. And it is only possible through belief in Jesus Christ. Our new birth is made available to us by the grace of God and through faith in His Son. That faith not only results in our new birth, but our subsequent victory over sin and death. We move from living under the control and dominion of Satan into a relationship with God Himself. We become His sons and daughters, with all the rights and privileges that come with being His heirs. We become, as John puts it, overcomers. Victors in Christ because of what He has done for us.

This is episode four on 1 John, chapter five, verses 1-5, and it’s entitled, “Unfinished Business.”  You see, John is going to call us to remain obedient – until the end. God expects faithfulness from His people and He has provided everything they need to pull it off. He has placed His Spirit within us, placed us within the body of Christ, and provided us with the Word of God as a constant source of teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness. We have all we need to be all we need to be. And God is at work, behind the scenes, working on our lives in ways that are oftentimes invisible to us. He is molding and perfecting us, out of love, into the likeness of His Son. And one of the main ways we show our love to God is by obeying His commands. By allowing His Spirit to lead and direct us. By not only reading His Word, but doing what it says and applying it to our lives. When Jesus gave the great commission to His disciples, He told them to go and make more disciples, but He added a line that we too often overlook: “teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.”

This is our fifth episode on 1 John, chapter five, verses 1-5, and I’ve called it, “Nike.”  Long before that word became a household name and a ubiquitous presence in virtually every household around the world, it was a common Greek word. One that John liked to use. And in our verse for today, he will use it to describe believers are overcomers. As we saw in the previous episode, we have been born from above and, as a result, we are intended to be victorious, those who overcome the world. But what does that really mean? And how are we supposed to pull it off. It all goes back to that little Greek word. But John isn’t going to tell us to strap on the latest pair of running shoes or trainers. He isn’t going to encourage us to hit the treadmill or the gym wearing the latest workout fashions made with dry-wick fabric. In fact, our victory has little to do with us. Instead, it has everything to do with what Christ has done for us. Our ultimate victory over this world is dependent upon the work of Christ and our faith in what He has accomplished for us.

This is episode six on 1 John, chapter five, verses 1-5, and it’s simply called, “Faith.”  You’re familiar with the word. And while faith is usually associated with, well, people of faith, it is something every living human being utilizes each and every day of their lives. So, what’s the difference between the faith of the average man on the street and that of a follower of Christ? The answer is the last word at the end of the previous sentence: Christ. It’s the object of our faith that makes the difference. It is who or what we are placing our faith, hope or trust in. Everyone has faith in something or someone. We all live by faith. But sometimes our faith ends up disappointed because the object of our faith fails to come through for us. But for those who place their faith in Christ, that’s never a possibility. Oh, we can still find ourselves worrying that He will come through for us, but it will prove to be a waste of our time. Because He is faithful. And it is because He is faithful that our faith in Him is always well-placed and never disappointed.

This is our final episode on 1 John, chapter five, verses 1-5, and it’s called, “New Birth = New Life.”  You see, for John, our new birth was to result in a new way of life. As believers, we have been born of God and, as a result, we should reflect the very nature of our heavenly Father. We should bear His likeness is all that we do. We should be chips off the old block, so to speak. God has made it possible for us to emulate the character of His Son. But much more than this, He has made it possible for us to be transformed into His very likeness. We don’t just mimic Jesus, we become Christ-like in our speech and conduct because we are being made into His image from one degree of glory to another. While we live on this earth, we are going through a God-ordained transformation. And just like our salvation, it is the work of God. Left to our own devices, we could no more copy the character of Jesus than we could fly like a bird without the help of a plane, parachute, glider or some other outside aid. Our new life in Christ is made possible by God. But never forget. It IS possible.

As has been our custom throughout the book of John, this will be the first of seven episodes on 1 John, chapter five, verses 6-12. I’ve entitled this first one, “Can I Get A Witness?” The fact is, John had more than enough witnesses to support His assertion that Jesus was the Son of God. And in these verses he is going to point out three of them. It really didn’t matter what others said or taught. They could deny the deity of Jesus, but it didn’t change anything. There was more than enough proof to support Jesus’ claim to be the Son of God and the Savior of the world. And John will begin with the Holy Spirit Himself. The very fact that He existed and had come to indwell each and every believer was more than enough proof that Jesus had been who He claimed to be. He had promised the Holy Spirit would come after He returned to have, and the Holy Spirit had come – in power, at Pentecost. But there were two other witnesses to Jesus deity. His baptism and crucifixion. At the first, God confirmed Jesus as His Son. At the second, God sacrificed Jesus as His sinless Son. The only sacrifice that would do.

This is the second episode on 1 John, chapter five, verses 6-12 and its’ called, “God’s Testimony”. There are all kinds of opinions and testimonies concerning Jesus out there. And the truth is, there’s nothing new under the sun. The denials of Jesus’ deity and even the claims that He never even existed have been around since the days just after His death. Denying Jesus is one of the oldest sports known to mankind. But at the end of the day, it really doesn’t matter what men think. We should worry a lot more about what God has to say on the issue. And, according to John, God the Father has a lot to say about His Son. The naysayers, doubters, critics and postmodern deconstructionists can shout all they want. They can pontificate and posture, presenting the claims of the bible concerning Jesus as nothing more than fantasy, but God’s word supersedes theirs. His opinion is the only one that really matters. It was King David who said, “The fool says in his heart, “There is no God” (Psalm 14:1 ESV). And the same fool would say there is no Son of God. But John would side with David and have God as an expert witness.

This is the third episode on 1 John, chapter five, verses 6-12 and its’ called, “Internal Evidence”. As John continues to litigate Jesus’ claim to be the Son of God and the long-awaited Messiah, he will call the Holy Spirit as witness. And because each and every believer in Jesus Christ has the Spirit of God living within him, this testimony is internal, not external. We have living proof, living inside us. The indwelling Spirit of God provides us with daily, irrefutable evidence that Christ was exactly who He claimed to be. His Spirit within us testifies directly to us. As John says, “Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself” (1 John 5:10). We don’t have to go far. We don’t even have to look outside of ourselves. We have the transformative power of God residing within us. And that could only mean one thing. Jesus was the Son of God and the Savior of the world. And when He promised to give us the Spirit to live within us, He had meant it and delivered on it.

This fourth episode on 1 John, chapter five, verses 6-12 is an important one. It is called, “Present-Tense Belief” and deals with a problem I think most of us face as believers. The tendency to see our testimony as something in the past. We have been trained to think of our faith story as having taken place at a singular point in time. But John would seem to differ from that perspective. He would see our faith as ever-evolving and expanding, growing in depth and confidence. It is never stagnant or stationary. The faith to believe should become the faith to keep on believing. Saving faith should become sanctifying faith. If we find ourselves thinking that placing our faith in Christ was a one-time event that occurred sometime in the past, we are missing the point. There is no doubt that the moment we place our faith in Jesus as our Savior, we are immediately declared positionally righteous by God. But he is out to make us practically righteous – by transforming our thoughts and behavior – as we continue to place our faith in Him.

This is our fifth episode on 1 John, chapter five, verses 6-12 and it’s entitled, “The Blood.” Sometimes, as modern believers, we see the sacrificial system ordained by God in the Old Testament as somewhat barbaric. We have a difficult time understanding why God would require the deaths of so many innocent animals. The very idea of blood atonement is hard for us to comprehend. And there are many today, who view the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross as the work of a bloodthirsty and vengeful God. They cannot comprehend how God the Father would willingly call for the death of His own Son. It seems to be anything but loving. And yet, the Scriptures tell us that Jesus Christ’s death was an expression of the love of God for mankind. Reconciling God’s wrath against sin and His love for man is not easy. Fully appreciating the grace and mercy as evidenced by His Son’s sacrificial death is made difficult by all the talk of God’s anger against sin and the need for a payment to satisfy His just and holy requirements. But the love and wrath of God meet at the cross.