Apostle John is amazed that God has chosen believers to be called the children of God. It’s the amazement John Newton expressed when he wrote the song, “Amazing Grace.” Newton had been a sailor and a slave trader, but he became a Christian and later worked to outlaw slavery in England. Newton writes, “Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me!”
Have you ever heard the terms “wishy-washy” or “flip-flopper”? A wishy-washy person is someone who is indecisive; they are easily pulled from one direction to another. A person who flip-flops is also someone who seems to shift positions from one day to the next. As apostle Paul said in Ephesians 4:14, these are people who are “tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting.”
Have you thought about where we are in relation to the history of the world, or how close we are to the end of time as we know it? Hebrew prophets spoke often about something called, the “Day of the Lord,” which was a phrase indicating God’s final judgement upon the wicked, blessings on the righteous, and the establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Joel, Amos, Zephaniah, Zechariah, and Malachi all prophesied of the coming “Day of the Lord.” And from Malachi (the last Old Testament prophet) until now, the clock has been ticking toward the Day of the Lord. So, where are we on the clock? I can only say it’s probably later than you think.
FIRST JOHN: TRUTH IN A WORLD OF DECEPTION “Love’s Restraint” By Mark E. Hardgrove, PhD Text: 1 John 2:15-17, NKJV 15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the lust of the...
John is very clear about his motives. Eight times in this epistle John says “I write” or “I have written.” For example, in chapter 2 verse 1, he says, “My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” In chapter 5 verse 13, he says, “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.” In our text, four times he says, “I write to you … because” and two more times he says, “I have written to you … because.”
FIRST JOHN: TRUTH IN A WORLD OF DECEPTION “Let the Love-Light Shine” By Mark E. Hardgrove, PhD Text: 1 John 2:7-11, NKJV 7 Brethren, I write no new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which you heard from the beginning. 8 Again, a...
In verse 5 John refers to “the message,” from the Greek anggelia, meaning “announcement, information, or message.” He says they received the message, the information, from Jesus and they were declaring it without distortion or apology. What is the message? It is “that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.” God is pure light, meaning there is no impurity or imperfection in God. It is this message, this light from God, that exposes the lies, the falsehoods, and the deception of the heretics and opens the door for people of faith to have fellowship with one another.
One of the reasons I love the First Epistle of John, is because of the opening verses of the Epistle. Look at them with me. They are so powerful in the way the apostle asserts the truth of Jesus Christ. Notice the way John repeats himself to powerfully argue the empirical nature of the evidence. What John has to say is not hearsay; it is not some philosophical treatise or mere speculation based upon some vague vision or hysterical reports of the woman who came running to them from the tomb.
PETER’S PERSPECTIVE ON THE PASSION Translation by Mark E. Hardgrove Text: Mark 14:12 – 16:20 The Early Church Fathers believed that John Mark wrote the Gospel that bears Mark’s name. Papias said that Mark derived his content from Peter, whether from sermons Peter preached, or from conversations that Mark had with Peter. As such, the...
THE FATE OF THE FRUITLESS By Mark E. Hardgrove, PhD Text: Mark 11, Read vv. 1-11, NKJV 1 Now when they drew near Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, He sent two of His disciples; 2 and He said to them, “Go into the village opposite you; and as soon as you...
