Romans (Program #57) – Righteousness – The Power of the Gospel (1)

Our God is righteous.  He is right, He is just, He is righteous in all of His acts.  In the redeeming death of Christ, the righteousness of God was not only manifested – it was satisfied.  And now this righteousness becomes the power of the gospel.

We are going to see in the next two days that God’s righteousness is the power of the gospel and the foudation of our salvation.  This is not a common thought to think of God’s righteousness as the power of the gospel …… what we need to see is not so much the power itself in this particular session; rather, we need to see the reason the gospel is so powerful –  powerful enough to be called “the power of God unto salvation”.  The reason for the power is that the righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel of God.

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Romans (Program #16) – The Freedom of the Spirit in Our spirit (2)

There is no reason that Christians should suffer from condemnation of any kind.  Rather, they should live a daily life that is victorious according to the Law of the Spirit of life as described in Romans 8.  The apostle Paul in Romans 8:1 says, “There is now then no condemnation to those who are in Christ”. If you have ever experienced condemnation or have battled with this monster that attacks Christians everywhere, you will not want to miss today’s Life-Study.

Probably, condemnation is one of the most common negative conditions of believers everywhere.  All of us have battled with this at one time or another and it really can be a serious problem for all Christians if they don’t get help.  Condemnation is a terrible thing.  We should not live a life under condemnation, yet many Christians do.  more…

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Romans (Program #15) – The Freedom of the Spirit in Our spirit (1)

When we come to Romans chapter eight, we have to say “Hallelujah!” because here, Romans 8 is not a refrigerator, but a dining table and the Lord is saying “Come and dine!”

We have come to one of the landmark chapters in the entire divine revelation today; that is Romans 8. You will not want to miss this life-study.

It’s no accident that Romans 8 follows Romans 7, both in the sequence of the Bible and more significantly in our experience. When you look at Romans 7, you say “Oh what a mess” because it just ends with a wretched man – “Wretched man! Who will deliver me from the body of this death?”  We just see a person who is doing his best to respond to God’s law.  more…

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Luke (Program #47) – The Death of the Man-Savior (2)

Let me post a question, that at first it may seems quite simple but in reality is not so simple, “who killed Christ?”  As I said, it seems simple enough, we know He was placed on the cross by Roman soldiers at the instruction of the corrupt Roman politicians but this was done by the instigation of the subtle religious leaders. So, who killed Christ?  As we will discover today in Luke Chapter 23, we have to see the real hand behind the scene may have been the righteous and Holy God Himself.

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Luke (Program #39) – The Ministry of the Man-Savior in His Human Virtues with His Divine Attributes from Galilee to Jerusalem (19)

Luke Chapter 18 presents us with a parable of two men going up to the temple to pray. One, a religious leader, a Pharisee, and the other a sinner even an evil extortioner. The contrast in their prayer gives us an interesting insight into why the Lord Jesus was drawn not to the so called righteous but to the unrighteous, those who knew they were in captivity and in need of the Jubilee.

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Luke (Program #23) – The Ministry of the Man-Savior in His Human Virtues with His Divine Attributes from Galilee to Jerusalem (2)

We all know the story of the good Samaritan. Here’s a man walking down the road and he’s beaten up and left for dead by robbers, while many righteous people pass by to take no account of his pitiful condition. Then at last, a Samaritan, one from a rejected place, comes by and cares for the beaten man. It’s a wonderful story with a valuable moral. But to really understand it, we must know the characters. Who, for example, is the beaten man? And, who is the good Samaritan? If you’ve always thought the moral of this story is for us to be kind to our neighbors, you may want to pay particular attention to our program today because we will see in this parable in another light.

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Lamentations (Program #1) – Introduction

No two books of the Bible are probably more linked than the Old Testament books of Jeremiah and Lamentations.  Jeremiah, a book of God’s judgment and punishment upon His rebellious people Israel is followed by the prophet Jeremiah’s lamentations over the sufferings of Israel.  Listen to his word in the first of these lamentations, chapter 1:1-2 “How the city sits alone That was full of people! She who was once great among the nations Has become like a widow; She who was a princess among the provinces Has become tributary.  Bitterly she weeps in the night, And her tears are on her cheeks. There is no one to comfort her Among all her lovers; All her friends have dealt treacherously with her; They have become her enemies.”  This was Jeremiah’s speaking of the utter destruction and devastation that had been visited upon the city by the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar.  And the suffering of Jeremiah reflects that of all of God’s people, especially no doubt the few righteous among them.

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Psalms (Program #4) – Christ in God’s Economy versus the Law in Man’s Appreciation (3)

In our natural common mentality, the law of God easily assumes a preeminent position.  We can relate to the notion of keeping a high moral standard of conduct.  And surely this seems in line with what must be God’s plan and desire for mankind.  After all God Himself gave the commandments to Moses to pass on to His people, the children of Israel.  But there is a fundamental problem; when we afford the law the central position in our relationship to God and that is although it is good and righteous and holy, the law is powerless and must rely on man’s fallen flesh to carry it out.  Try as we may and regardless of how much desperate prayer expressing our earnest desire to carry it out we add to it,  the result is inevitable, an utter failure, leaving us defeated and condemned and spiritually dead.  Oh that our eyes would be open to see that this righteous law that so vividly portraits God’s holy nature has never occupied the central place in His plan.  For that place throughout eternity is reserved unchangingly for the Christ of God alone.

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Job (Program #13) – The Final Outcome, Under God’s Consummation

Job was a man fully absorbed in seeking to be upright, perfect and righteous before God. And without dispute, he had obtained much of what he sought after. Yet the book of Job reveals that God would never be satisfied by having His people obtain just a high and ethical condition such as Job’s. And so bit by bit Job was led progressively to lose all his natural attainments and with their loss also came the loss of his trust and reliance upon himself. Listen to Job 42:5-6, “I had heard of You by the hearing of the ear, But now my eye has seen You; Therefore I abhor myself, and I repent in dust and ashes.” Not until so much of his self has been stripped away did Job begin to gain something of God and to have God Himself added to his being. This is the ultimate revelation of the book of Job and the ultimate revelation of the entire Bible.

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1 John (Program #16) – Conditions of the Divine Fellowship (9)

John first epistle as a continuation of his gospel stresses the eternal life. And specifically the fellowship or flow of this divine life that is available for all of us as His children to experience.

But though our salvation is unconditional there are conditions for us to stay in the fellowship of life experimentally. The first of this condition is found in chapter one and this is a basic requirement for every believer to maintain their enjoyment of Christ as life.

1 John 1:7, 9
7 “But if we walk in the light as He 1is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from every sin.”

9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Keeping sure account by confessing our sins before God is vitally important. But John brings us another important condition for maintaining the fellowship of life and that is to love the brothers.

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