Amos 6:8-10 - Hush, we must not mention the name of the Lord

6:8

This verse is given a very strong introduction, “The Lord God has sworn by himself, declares the Lord, the God of hosts”. This is stressing the seriousness and the certainty of what is about to be said. The nation needed to come to its senses.

Jacob is used here to refer to the northern kingdom of Israel. God abhors her pride. All of us need to be careful that we do not fall into the trap of Jacob. As a nation we are very rich, while much of the world is very poor. We can become very proud in ourselves. We need to keep an eye on our hearts. The things that Jacob but his trust in would come to nothing, for God would deliver the city and all that was in it to an enemy.

We need to truly fear the Lord.

6:9,10

These two verses describe the aftermath of destruction. You can imagine this as a scene from a horror film, but why does God use such vivid language? There is only so much that can be communicated by prose, graphic language, picture language, can sometimes convey the point much more forcibly. So what is the point that God is seeking to convey? It is that judgement, horrific judgement, is coming upon the house of Israel. It is vital that Israel heeds the warnings that Amos is giving, otherwise severe consequences would follow. We should treat the language of Jesus in the New Testament in the same way. Fools spend their time babbling on about eternal conscious torment, or conditional immortality, and the like. We would do far better to focus on the purpose of Jesus’ words. We are sinning against God, judgement is coming, terrible judgement, and if we have any sense we will repent while there is still time. Finally, we should note that judgement did come upon Israel, very real judgement. Likewise, hell is for real.

1 John 5:14-16 - We know that He hears us

5:14

So, we do not need to be people who are full of doubt. Instead we are to be full of assurance. Throughout history there have been debates about assurance of salvation, with some saying that we can never be completely assured. This seems to me to be a very unbiblical attitude. We are certainly to put every effort into seeking to faithfully serve the Lord, but we do so in full assurance of our salvation, not in order to gain our salvation. And we can approach God with confidence, knowing that He hears us.

5:15

When we pray He hears us, whatever we ask. Now this verse is not grounds for thinking we will get whatever we want from God. In fact, in the previous verse John has spoken of “anything according to His will”. We know that when we ask according to His will He will answer us. This is not a cop out, nor a meaningless promise. It means that when we walk in step with the Spirit we can do so confidently, knowing that God hears our prayers and answers them.

5:16

John has talked a lot about sin, using someone continuing to sin as a sign that they do not belong to God. as we have said, this should not be taken to mean we are under condemnation if we sin, as we all will. It is a persistent hard hearted attitude that he is talking about, and this verse illustrates that. One might conclude from what he has said earlier that if we see a fellow Christian sin that automatically means they cannot really be a Christian. That is not at all what John means, and if we see a fellow believer sin we are to pray for them, and God will give them life, not cut them off forever! It is not absolutely clear what John means by “a sin that leads to death”. It could be that he means that if someone dies as a result of sin we are not to pray for them. We are not in to praying for the dead.

1 John - Deeper in the Word

This is a little different. A couple of times a year I run a course called Deeper in the Word. This course runs for seven weeks and looks in a little more depth at a book in the Bible (or part of a book), while also seeking to teach some more general lessons in studying the Bible. At the end of the course each participant has to give a 5 -10 minute "talk" (the format is up to them, and while most are talks, some do other things such as poems or songs) related to the material covered. The last course looked at 1 John and the talks were of very high quality.

In this "sermon", there are some words from me, but we also asked 4 of the participants to give there talk to the whole church congregation as well. One of these 4 is my wife!

Anyway, I hope you enjoy it.

http://www.gatechurch.co.uk/media/2018/4/29/220418

1 John 5:11-13 - God gave us eternal life

5:11

God has given us eternal life. No other religion or philosophy can match it! So there is no need to feel that we need something more, that some other religion or teaching can give us something we lack, because they cannot. And eternal life is not just living forever, though we will. It is about the whole nature of life, we are starting to live as Jesus lived. We have an awful long way to go, but we have started. We have been born again, and we have lots of growing to do. And this life is found only in the Son of God. There is no other way to obtain this life, than through Jesus Christ.

5:12

So the situation is very simple and straightforward, and John describes it in his usual direct manner. If we have the Son then we have life. If someone does not have the Son then they do not have life. So if someone comes along offering some teaching or other, our first response should be to see whether or not they have the Son. Do they know Jesus? Are they living a Christlike life? Is there teaching exalting the Son, or something, or someone, else? Life is found in Jesus and nowhere else.

5:13

John has been writing in order to assure and strengthen his readers. However, there is a danger that some would take it the wrong way, starting being excessively introspective and start doubting their salvation. So John stresses here that he thinks that they do believe the gospel and that they do have eternal life. He wants them to know that they do indeed have eternal life in Christ Jesus.

1 John 5:9,10 - Whoever believes in the Son of God

5:9

“If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater”. Under Jewish Law if two or three witnesses testified to the same thing, then constituted strong evidence. How much more if God Himself testifies? You see the truth that Jesus is the Christ, is the Son of God and came in the flesh (ie He is fully divine and fully human) was not an idea made up by men, but something testified to by God. At the beginning there is the virgin birth, then at Jesus’ baptism God spoke. Between then and the crucifixion there were other incidents such as the miracles and the transfiguration. Then after His death God raised Him from the dead. Christianity is a revelatory religion. This does not mean we do not use our minds, nor that we do not use normal methods, but the foundation is the revelation from God. Some might argue that “we want a self-consistent system that does not rely on God’s revelation”. Well, you cannot have such a system, it is logically impossible (If you want some good reading in this area, try Nancy Pearcey, “Finding Truth” and “Saving Leonardo”).

5:10

So if we believe in the Son of God, then the testimony is within us. This means the Holy Spirit is within us, God is in us. So if any false teaching, like gnostic ideas in John’s day, claims to offer more, we can safely reject it, for we have the testimony of God Himself. What could be better! Conversely, if some rejects the gospel, they are not merely rejecting an idea, not merely disagreeing with an argument, they are calling God a liar. We need to be aware of the truth of the situation. Such a person has rejected God’s testimony about His Son, not my ideas, nor even Paul’s ideas about Jesus Christ. They have rejected God Himself.

Amos 6:1-7 - You put off the day of disaster

6:1

“Woe to those who are at ease ..”. This reminds us of Jesus’ words about woe to those who are happy now (Luke 6:24-26). Does this mean it is wrong to be happy, well fed or at ease? No, but it is wrong to be at ease when society is in a mess, and your wealth is the result of injustice and oppression. We need to be concerned about the poor and about injustice. Amos seems to be drawing a parallel between Samaria and Zion. The northern kingdom of Israel seems to have more or less set up a parallel of Jerusalem. It was fake! When men reject God, as our society is doing, they will set up some alternative system. Communist countries have veneration of leaders, Nazi Germany had virtually turned Hitler worship into a religion, our society is making “sexual freedom” into a religion.

6:2,3

It isn’t exactly clear why Amos is mentioning these places. They are places which had suffered defeat, and perhaps the most likely explanation is that Amos is drawing attention to them, saying to Israel that these places could not stand, why do you think that you will do any better? They considered the “day of doom” to be far off, but in doing so were only bringing the day of disaster nearer.

6:4-7

The use if ivory was a sign of living in luxury. At the time there were still elephants in the region of Syria, so the devastating effects of the ivory trade are sadly nothing new. Eating meat was a rarity for the common people, saved from special occasions and feasts. So the latter part of verse 4 is a further description of the opulence of the rich people.

Verse 5 is not a condemnation of music in general, one only needs to look at the psalms to see that, but the reference here is to music in revelry, and the prophet is painting a picture.

Drinking wine in bowls means drinking wine in large quantities.The whole picture is one of the rich and powerful, the elite, enjoying a party life while the nation (Joseph) was suffering. They had no concern for the poor. The outcome of all this would be that those who rejoiced now would be among the first to go into exile.

1 John 5:6-8 - Water and blood

5:6

There is no agreement on what it means when John says Jesus came by water and blood, though it is likely that the phrase was familiar to his original readers. There are three main suggestions to the meaning:

• One is that water represents baptism, and blood represents the Lord’s Supper. This was actually favoured by Luther and Calvin, but the suggestion does seem unlikely and does not have much to commend it. For instance, blood is part of the Lord’s Supper, and is signified by the wine, so it would be odd to have blood signifying itself.
• People like Augustine have seen reference to the crucifixion when the spear was thrust into Jesus’ side and water and blood flowed from Him. This has merit in that there is a clear scriptural reference, but it fails to make sense of “He came by water and blood”.
• Perhaps the most likely meaning is that water refers to His baptism, and blood to the cross. Some heretical teachings taught that Jesus was a mere man, not one sent by the Father (hence the repeated references in John’s gospel to Jesus being “sent by the Father”). They taught that Jesus and the Christ were separate, and Christ came upon Jesus at His baptism, and left before His death. The truth, the gospel, is that Jesus was sent by the Father, He died on the cross, and rose from the dead. This was all the Son of God. We don’t have identical false teachings today, but any notion that denies the full divinity and full humanity of Christ from conception onwards are false teachings.

And it is the Holy Spirit who testifies to the truth of the full humanity and deity of Christ. Any so-called superior spiritual insight that denies this truth is not inspired by the Holy Spirit.

5:7,8

The Holy Spirit, the baptism of Jesus and the death of Jesus all testify to the same thing. Jesus’ life is a complete and continuous whole. Any attempt to divide it up is deeply mistaken. There is agreement with all three. It is the divine Son of God who was conceived by the Holy Spirit in Mary. The Spirit came upon Him at His baptism. He went to the cross to die for our sins, and He was raised as we will be raised. There is perfect agreement and consistency in the life of Jesus.

Amos 5:21-27 - Away with the noise of your songs

5:21-24

God then tells them precisely what He thinks of their religious worship, for they were indeed a very religious society. God hated it! They were a stench to Him. God would reject all their offerings. We need to remember who worship is for! It is for God, not for us. He sets the rules. Religion so easily becomes man-centered, not God-focused. Their songs and music meant nothing to God. This latter part shows that the words of this section are as relevant to us today, as they were in Amos’s day. If our lives and hearts are not pleasing to God, then our “worship” is not pleasing to God.

Then we have the words famously quoted by Martin Luther King, “let justice roll down like a river”. There is no pretence with God, no favouritism. He looks for our lives to be truly just, that then leads to true worship.

5:25-27

Now the sacrifices were an integral part of Israel’s worship, as specified in the Law, especially Leviticus. So what was God playing at? God then points out that he did not require sacrifices during the time Israel was in the desert. Israel was missing the point. So what was the point? The sacrifices were ineffective in themselves in absolving people of guilt, as the book of Hebrews stresses. Instead, they pointed the way forward to Christ. Israel (the northern kingdom) had created many idols and was essentially indulging in idol worship, with a veneer of godly worship. There was no true worship, so God would send them into exile “beyond Damascus”. Assyria would, before too long, be the dominant nation, and many people of Israel would be scattered to various parts of the region.

1 John 5:3-5 - We keep His commandments

5:3

“For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments”. I have said on several occasions that the love this letter speaks of, indeed that the Bible speaks of, is not sentimental mush, and this verse sums that up beautifully. The love that the Bible speaks of is not just a matter of feelings. Moreover, God’s commands are not burdensome. This is in contrast to the “commands” of the Pharisees, which placed tiresome burdens upon the people. In contrast, doing things God’s way is the best way, it makes our lives better, it makes society better. When we choose to ignore God’s commands we are fools, fools to ourselves and to each other.

5:4

God’s commands are not burdensome, and indeed are good in every way, but the world sees things very differently.  The world is very much against God’s commands. But whoever (the Greek actually says “whatsoever”) is born of God overcomes the world. In a sense it is “us against the world”, and we win! The world is wrong and foolish in the way it chooses to go, but it can seem impossible or wearisome to go against the world all the time, but if we are born of God we can overcome the world. So how do we do this? By faith! Faith says no to the world, it realises the vacuity of the world’s wisdom, and it sees the goodness of God. Faith turns from the world and towards Jesus Christ, and so we win.

5:5

And what is that faith? It is believing that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and all that that entails. He is the One sent by the Father, He is the One who died on the cross in our place. He is the One who will return to judge the whole world. The gnostics offered another supposed way of overcoming the world, but the only way to overcome the world is to believe in the Son of God. So we have a choice of how we live. We can go along with the world, but if we do that we take all the consequences. And what does the world have to offer? Look around and see what you see in the world. Is that what you want? Or do you want to overcome the world? Do you want to live a life that sets you free, and helps to enable others to be set free? To live differently? This is no easy choice, for it means going against the world, but we do so with all the power of God behind us, the power demonstrated in the cross and resurrection.

Amos 5:15-20 - Hate evil, love good

5:15

Now they are told some specific aspects of what God requires of them. They are to hate evil and love good. Hating evil is an oft repeated virtue in the Bible. This means hating all sorts of evil, So we are to hate sexual immorality of all kinds, we are to hate all forms of injustice, and are to hate all oppression of the poor. Our legal systems need to maintain justice.

“Perhaps the Lord ...” This is not saying that there is only a possibility that the Lord will have mercy, rather Amos is pleading with the people to change their ways.

5:16,17

Although God has issued this call to the people (v14,15), it seems that it was hopeless, the people would not mend their ways. So the judgement would come, and it would be terrible. The Lord would pass through their midst. Some might have thought this would be a good thing, but because the Lord would come in judgement it would be anything but good.

5:18-20

“The day of the Lord”. The people of Israel looked forward to the day of the Lord, they thought it would be a good thing for them, but they would be in for a rude awakening. The “day of the Lord” is not necessarily a single day, nor is it just referring to The day of the Lord. It refers to a time when God intervenes directly to set things right, a time when things are done according to His ways. Now Israel was living in abject disobedience, so when God intervened to set things right it would not be good news for them. Amos then uses a couple of graphic illustrations, essentially saying it would be like getting out of the frying pan only to find oneself in the fire. If we are not walking in step with the Lord, then the day of the Lord is bad news, not good.

1 John 5:1,2 - Born of God

5:1

It is interesting how John links the theological test with life application tests in this verse and the next. In this verse we get the theological test. If we believe that Jesus is the Christ, then we are born of God. Yet again, we need to remember the context. John is saying this in opposition to the seeds of doubt that the gnostics were seeking to sow. “You lack something, you lack something” the gnostics were saying. “No you don’t” is what John is saying. You believe that Jesus is the Christ, then you are born of God, you don’t need any special knowledge. The converse is also true. If we love the Father then we love the Son as well. If someone claims to love the Father, but not the son, then they are being ridiculous. However, in talking of children here, John may mean that we will love His people as well. ie looking at us as God’s children.

5:2

This would seem to imply that “love His child as well” means loving God’s people. And how do we love people? By loving God and carrying out His commands. We need to take this to heart, especially today. Those who advocate a sin-affirming approach to LGBT issues may claim to be acting out of “love”, but in reality they are doing no such thing. We know that we are truly loving people by loving God and carrying out His commands. Anything else is not true love, but is counterfeit. Those of the sin-affirming tendency have only counterfeit love.

Amos 5:11-14 - the times are evil

5:11

The rich had made many plans, mostly at the expense of the poor. It is a feature of all societies, whether they are capitalist, socialist or social democratic, that the poor suffer. Look at the last financial crisis. It was not the rich bankers who really paid a price, but ordinary people. When taxes are raised it is rarely the rich who end up paying more, they find ways around the taxes. But the plans of the rich will come to nothing.

5:12,13

These judgements are not arbitrary, but are based on justice. The Lord knows the sins that the powerful had committed. This in fact is a great difference between the Biblical writings and other writings of the time. They give a clear condemnation of sin on the basis of justice. It was the righteous who were afflicted, and courts took bribes. So anyone with any sense kept silent, for to object was to court trouble. Today we see a similar situation with LGBT stuff. Most people know that trans ideology is nonsense, even dangerous nonsense, but few will say anything because they know they invite a torrent of abuse, possible even the loss of their job. “For it is an evil time”.

5:14

When God issues judgements the purpose is that people change their ways. There comes a point where people become so hard hearted that they will not hear and will not change, and at that point they are “given over” to their sin (see Romans 1:18-32). However, we need to recognise the initial purpose. The warnings and the judgements may sound very severe, and indeed they are, but the purpose is to bring people to their senses. So here Israel has received harsh words from the Lord, but now we get the call to “Seek good, not evil, that you may live”. God does not delight in people perishing (Ezek 18:23). The Israelites thought that God was “with them”, but He wasn’t, because of their evil behaviour. But if they turned to God in repentance, He would indeed be with them. If God is against us then we have no one to blame but ourselves.

1 John 4:19-21 - Because He first loved us

4:19

We love because He first loved us. God took the initiative. Indeed, this happened in all things. He created us. Our existence was not our idea! We had no role in deciding whether or not we would be born. All things originate with God, and so it is with love. God decided to love us, and our love is in response to this. To have a valid worldview we need to have God at the centre, any worldview that puts man at the centre, or nothing at the centre, is fatally flawed from the very beginning.

4:20

John then, as he likes to do, puts things very starkly. If anyone claims to love God, but hates his brother, then that person is a liar. There is no umming and ahhing here! God is love, so if we love God then we too will love. Moreover, if we do not love our brother whom we see, then any claim to love God whom we cannot see is completely bogus. It is easy to say we love someone we cannot see, but when it comes to loving our brother we are faced with all their faults and faced with the reality of loving someone and the cost involved.

4:21

So we have a commandment from God. Commandments did not go out of the window with the New Testament, and anyone who thinks they have simply has not read the New Testament, at least not with their eyes open. Loving God is not a mere feeling, it is a concrete action, and that action involves loving each other. As I have said several times before, the love the Bible talks about is not sentimental mush, but something that faces up to the realities of life, and the realities of who we are.

Amos 5:7-10 - There are those who turn justice into bitterness

5:7

Courts are meant to administer justice, but legal systems can become dysfunctional. Perhaps the most common way this happen is by outright corruption. Either the state or rich individuals directly corrupt the system, so it gives them the decisions they want, rather than just decisions. This is the sort of thing that happened in Israel in Amos' day, and which happened in Nazi Germany and Communist Russia, among many other places. Alternatively, it can happen through creeping dysfunction, and this is happening in the West. Special interest groups corrupt the system, or creeping bureaucracy gradually make the system unworkable. The system becomes so expensive and complicated that ordinary people cannot get justice. Or technicalities start to rule the day, rather than justice.

5:8,9

Pleiades and Orion were star constellations. Many civilisations looked to the stars and believed that certain arrangements of constellations indicated or caused disasters to occur. Israel was being corrupted by the surrounding culture. God reminds them that it is He who created the stars, it is He who brings forth the day and the night. Humanity is so prone to worship the created rather than the creator.

5:10

I think it was George Orwell who said “in a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act”. In all dictatorships telling the truth is a dangerous thing to so. But it is also dangerous in our own society. To say that abortion involves killing babies is increasingly to put yourself beyond the pale of “decent society”, as is to say that trans ideology is dangerous nonsense, or that homosexual acts are not good, or that marriage is the best place for bringing up children. And society is increasingly trying to silence those that say these things, resorting to the law if necessary.

1 John 4:16-18 - No fear in love

4:16

Yet again, let me remind us that John is writing this in the context of gnostic type false teaching that was seeking to sow doubt in the minds of believers. We can be confident in our faith. We know the love of God and we rely on the love of God. All false teachings lead us to rely on something else, knowledge in the case of the gnostics. God is love, and His love being alive in us is a sure sign that we live in God, and He in us.

4:17

In our day death can usually be considered a far off event, albeit one that all of us will have to confront one day. And, of course, there are events that can suddenly bring us face to face with death, such as horrific accidents, terrorist attacks or sudden illness. In John’s day death was something that was much nearer to hand, and so the prospect of judgement was much more real. So having confidence on the day of judgement was also a much more pressing matter. John expected the gospel to make a real effect in people’s lives, and the dominant real effect is that we are to be like Jesus in this world, we are to be Christlike.

4:18

The false teachers often play on fear, fear that we are not worthy. Perfect love drives out fear, for fear has to do with punishment. On the cross Jesus took upon Himself the judgement that should have been ours, the punishment that should have been ours. So we have nothing more to fear, Jesus has done it all. The perfect love of Jesus has paid the price for our sins, so His perfect love drives out fear. When we fear in this life, we are essentially saying that God will not rescue us, or will needlessly let bad things happen to us, or that He will abandon us. We have no need for such fear, for the cross demonstrates beyond all doubt that He will never abandon us.

1 John 4:13-15 - Jesus Christ is the Son of God

4:13

Now we get another test. It is important not to treat these various “tests” (obeying God, loving each other, etc) as a checklist, they are signs of the reality of God being in us, of us belonging to God. This test is that we have the Holy Spirit, the Spirit lives within us. In the final days Jesus made great play of the fact that it was good that He was going away so that He could send the Spirit. It is God’s purpose and desire that He lives within us. There is meant to be a living relationship between us and the Holy Spirit, He is not a mere theological truth.

4:14

Then the focus immediately turns to who Jesus is. The primary work of the Spirit is to testify to who Jesus Christ is and what He has done. So how does this “doctrinal” test fit with the “living relationship” I talked about in the previous verse? Our testimony to Jesus is not a mere intellectual assent, rather it is something much deeper than that. We really know who Christ is. We actually know that the Father has sent the Son to be the saviour of the world. Notice the universal relevance of the Son.

4:15

John likes to drive home the points he is making. The centrality of Jesus, and who Jesus is, is absolutely central to the gospel. Anyone or anything that removes Jesus from this place has drifted away from the truth. This can happen in various ways. Perhaps the most obvious is when people deny the deity of Jesus, making out that He was just a good teacher, or a good man, or even just a prophet. But it can also happen in more subtle ways. If something else becomes central, then we have missed it. So if social action, or the gifts of the Spirit, become central then we are in error. Social action and spiritual gifts are good and are important, but they must be built upon the foundation that is Jesus Christ.

Notice also the implication that it is only God who can reveal to us that Jesus is the Son of God. For I cannot make God live in me, He chooses to live in me. Now this does not mean that we should seek to believe, or seek to understand, but we need to realise that these are means that God uses.

1 John 4:11,12 - If God so loved us

4:11

In 1 Corinthians 13 Paul famously says that we have not love then we are nothing. John is essentially giving the same message. Again, we should remind ourselves that this is not soppy sentimental love, not even virtue signalling “love”, it is the genuine love of God. The gnostics were focused on something different, in their case knowledge. So John here, while he uses the lack of love as a clear warning sign that the gnostics are way off the path, his primary concern is that the Christians, ie us, focus on loving each other as God has loved us. Going back to my note on Paul and love, this is just another sign of the unity of Scripture. People who don’t know any better are forever going on about supposed differences and contradictions between various New Testament writers. Such talk is usually just so much nonsense. I have read the whole Bible many times and what amazes me is the consistency of the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation. God used different people with different perspectives, emphasising different aspects of the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ, but they are all telling the same story.

4:12

No one has ever seen God. Moses was not allowed to look on the face of God (Ex 33:20). No one, except Jesus, has seen God. But if we have the love of God in our lives then that is proof that God is in us. And this love is the love that went to the cross, it is a sacrificial love. It is also a love that faces up to the reality of sin, sin in you and sin in me. It is not blind, but faces up fully to the truth and does what is necessary.

Amos 5:1-6 - Seek me and live

5:1-3

God makes what seem to be severe judgements, and indeed they are severe, for Israel’s sins are severe. And the same applies to all of us. In fact, people don’t like it when we preach about God’s judgements, all sorts of objections are raised. However, God gives these prophecies with the hope that we will come to our senses and repent. Israel would be fallen forever if she continued on this road of disobedience. Moreover, part of the problem at this time was that Israel was feeling rather pleased with herself. Economically and militarily she was quite strong, but if a nation is defying the Lord, all her strength is worth nothing when judgement comes. If she trusted in her armies to protect her she would be sorely disappointed.

5:4-6

These verses reveal a vital principle in reading the Bible. Never take a verse out of context (even the nice ones!). If we read verse 1-3 in isolation then the only conclusion is that Israel has had it, she had fallen beyond hope. But we need to read them together with the following verses. God’s intention is that Israel stops trusting in Bethel and Gilgal, and instead turns to the Lord Himself. It seems that we will do anything to avoid turning to the Lord. We will set up idols of all sorts, and would rather trust in these worthless things than trust in the living God. Bethel and Gilgal would come to nothing. If they continued to make these their object of trust then disaster would come. We need to beware of making the same mistake. Bethel and Gilgal had religious significance, there were associated with things that God id, but Israel then made an idol out of them, making them, instead of God, the object of trust. We can make structures, even doctrines the object of trust. Doctrine is important, even vital, but it is the one behind the doctrine that we must trust in. We can put trust in religious practices, instead of the One whom the practices are celebrating. And this is a serious matter, if we do not trust in the living God Himself, then we are done for.

1 John 4:9,10 - That we might live through Him

4:9

Our view that God loves us is not something we have worked out for ourselves, it is not a consequence of any human philosophy. No, we know this because God showed His love among us. With Israel God showed His love to the nation by creating her in the first place, by providing for her. Indeed He did this for the whole of mankind when he created us in the first place and provided us with food. Adam and Eve were in a good place! But Adam and Eve sinned, Israel sinned, we all sinned. So God demonstrated His love for us by sending His one and only Son. He sent His son that we might live through Him. Life is only to be found in Christ. This is so important, first that God wants us to truly live, and that this life can only be found in Christ. This is why it so important for us to bear witness to the world. The world is lost, it is dead in its sins, but God wants it to live, and it can only find life through Christ.

4:10

Love originates from God, He took the initiative, not us. This also means that to define what true love is we need to look God first, not to ourselves. In debates against God, which today seem to focus mostly on LGBT issues, we so often use man as our reference point. We need to use God as our reference point. and how did God love us first? He sent His one and only Son to be the propitiation for our sins, to shed His blood on the cross in our place. There are those today who reject the atoning nature of the cross, who reject “penal substitutionary atonement”. They say this doctrine makes God into a “cosmic child abuser”. Such people are complete and utter fools, Read the text! The Father sent the Son to die in our place, as a propitiation, ie one who turns aside wrath. And this was a demonstration of His love for us! The cross is a pure act of love, arguably the most pure act of love there has ever been. It was love towards us, and the Father, Son and Holy Spirit were all in it together!

Love originates from God, emanates God and is defined by God.

Amos 4:9-13 - I sent plagues

4:9-11

We find these sorts of verses hard to take. Often the line we take, consciously or subconsciously, is to say our understanding of God has advanced since these days, and to try and explain them away. But this is God’s word, so that actually isn’t an option if we truly believe this is the word of God. So let’s accept God’s word as it presents itself. God quite clearly claims responsibility for these things (this does not mean that no one else was responsible, when men commit evil men are guilty). Let’s imagine for a moment that man had never sinned, would any of these things have ever happened? No. Let’s imagine that Israel had been completely faithful to God, would any of these things have happened to her? No. Part of the explanation of these things is that they are a judgement upon Israel. Israel’s response should have been to realise something was wrong, repent and go to God for guidance.

4:12,13

But Israel refused to turn to God, so they would indeed meet with Him. Everyone will one day see God, either as saviour or as judge. The Lord is God Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, the One with all power and authority. A truly wise man listens to Him.

1 John 4:6-8 - Let us love one another

4:6

This verse merits careful reading. Yet again, John sets up a dichotomy between the world and us who are from God. The “us” here would seem to be John and either the apostles as a whole (though he may well have been the only one left at the time of writing, but representing apostolic reaching), or John and his co-workers. But note that the test John give is listening or not listening to “us”. Someone who rejects clear Biblical teaching may claim they are not rejecting God, but rejecting a man, or simply giving their own interpretation of things. However, John sets this up as another test of whether someone is speaking out of the Spirit of truth, or the spirit of error. We need to appreciate the authority that goes with teaching. If we are a teacher then we need to be very careful over what we teach, making sure we are in line with the word of God. If someone is teaching the word of God accurately then we need to pay close attention.

4:7

John returns to perhaps his favourite theme, love and God. As always, we need to read this verse in context. John is not giving support any notion that it doesn’t matter what we do as long as we “love” each other. Many sin-affirming “Christians” use “love” as an excuse for disregarding God’s commands. The context is the gnostic type teaching which emphasised knowledge, casting doubt on the full salvation of the Christians. John is assuring them that the “proof” that they belong to God is the godly love they have for one another.

4:8

The converse of this is that if someone does not demonstrate the love of God then, regardless of what they might say, they cannot really know God. For God is love. We are saved to be Christlike, so if we do know God then His love will start to be exhibited in our lives.

Amos 4:4-8 - Go to Bethel and sin

4:4,5

Israel was very religious and very proud. Places of worship had been set up at Bethel and Gilgal. Now Bethel was the place where Jacob had a vision from God, so it had religious significance, but Jerusalem was the place that God had chosen. As humans we have great difficulty in coming to terms with the fact that it is God who decides how He is to be worshipped, not us. Listen to any statements from “Christians” who seek to deny clear instructions in the Bible. They all come down to saying “we decide”, and may even offer nice religious reasons for their disobedience. Man might be impressed, but God isn’t. Israel even had all sorts of religious practices, but obeying God was not one of them.

4:6-8

God had sent various warnings. These included famine, drought and plague. Today we react against the idea of God sending such things, but it is we who are wrong, not the Bible. God sent these things as a warning. What if you are not in the town that was afflicted, what should our reaction be? It should not be to think that they must be terrible sinners, rather it is to look to our own lives. Man cannot live without God, we are not in control of the world. We have stewardship over it, under authority to God, we do not own the world. And we need to come to terms with this truth, and God sometimes sends these things (plague etc) to try and bring us to our senses.